PORT ANGELES — It’s taken more than a decade, but the Port Angeles International Gateway Transportation Center finally is going to bid next week.
But several questions arose during a Clallam Transit board of directors meeting about the project’s funding and design.
At the Monday meeting, the transit system’s board unanimously approved putting the $13.8 million project — a figure that includes prior consultant and attorney fees and traffic signal installation — out to bid this coming Monday, Aug. 28.
Bids are due by 3 p.m. Oct. 24, with the bid opening set for 4:05 p.m. that same day.
The contract will be awarded at a Clallam Transit board meeting in November or December.
Construction is slated to begin in January and last until October 2008.
A partnership by the city and Clallam Transit, Gateway is intended to be an attractive entrance to the Port Angeles downtown.
It is slated for an area roughly bounded by Front Street and Railroad Avenue at Lincoln Street.
After several incarnations during its more than 10 years, a final design for bid purposes was approved by the City Council and Clallam Transit board in mid-June.
The project’s new design eliminates a Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce visitor center and adds a clock tower and roof over the public plaza.
It also revises the building to include only transit facilities, public restrooms, a small police officer area and an information booth.
A transit-only lane will run north/south from mid-block on Front Street to mid-block on Railroad Avenue to provide at least six bus waiting areas.
The transit building and public plaza will be located above a concrete “lid” above a ravine at Front and Lincoln on the project’s east side that will provide parking underneath.
A two-tiered parking garage for about 120 vehicles also is planned to the west of the project. It will be built using the difference in grade between Railroad Avenue and Front Street.
Vehicles will enter the garage’s top level from Front Street and its bottom level from Railroad Avenue but won’t be able to travel between levels.
Some aspects only options
But the two-tiered parking garage, the clock tower and the pavilion roof covering the public plaza will be included in the bid package as “alternates,” or options that can be modified or dropped if the bids are too high.
According to the updated project cost estimates, the $13.8 project includes $10 million in federal money, $1.6 million in state money and $2.2 million in city money.
If construction costs increase beyond that amount, the city will either provide the additional money outright, or provide the money temporarily until reimbursed by Clallam Transit through federal grants, according to agreements approved Monday.
Clallam Transit System is administering the project design phase and Federal Transit Authority grant funding.
The city will be administering the construction management phase and the Transportation Improvement Board grant funding.