By Cindy Ekas

Published: Friday, February 15, 2013, 12:01 a.m.
Updated: Friday, February 15, 2013

Connellsville Municipal Authority received good news this week when it found out that the South Pittsburgh Street/Trump Run Bridge Project will cost only about half of what was originally estimated.

After the bid opening, the authority accepted the lowest bid of $40,405 from Danmar Contracting Inc. of Delmont to replace the sewer line under the Trump Run Bridge, pending review by its engineer and solicitor.

Authority members also asked its engineer John Tomaro of Widmer Engineering and its solicitor Richard Husband to review the second-lowest bid of $45,473.35, received from Donegal Construction Co. of Greensburg.

The authority received nine proposals for the project, ranging in cost from the lowest bid of $40,405 to the highest cost of $74,000, submitted by Ligonier Construction of Laughlintown.

“We did receive a wide range of bids for the project,” Tomaro said. “The bids are separated by about $35,000. We aren't very familiar with Danmar, and we want to make sure that the company doesn't have any skeletons in its closet. That's why we want to review the two lowest bids very closely.”

Tomaro also explained that the authority's share of the project is only 50 percent, which means it could cost the authority about $20,000 to complete the project. PennDOT is responsible for picking up the remaining 50 percent of the cost.

“We originally thought the project was going to cost the authority a lot more money,” Tomaro said. “It's a simple job, and we're very happy that it's not going to cost us as much money as we originally thought it would. We were able to whittle the cost down and save the authority a lot of money.”

In addition to the project cost, Tomaro said the authority will be required to pay 50 percent of a $500 per day fee or $250 to PennDOT for traffic control provided during the project.

Tomaro said the project will begin Feb. 27 and is expected to take less than a week to complete.

In other business, the authority approved a request from West Penn Power Co. to connect to the Bullskin Township sewer line near Route 982.

Cindy Ekas is a freelance writer.

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