Project to Resurface and Widen US 6 Between Eagle and Wolcott to Begin in May
EAGLE COUNTY — The Colorado Department of Transportation’s (CDOT’s) highly anticipated resurfacing and widening project on US 6 between Eagle and Wolcott, which will be completed in partnership with Eagle County, has successfully reached a contractual agreement so the project can begin this coming May and is expected to finish by September 2012.
“We are eager to begin work,” said CDOT Resident Engineer Martha Miller. “After receiving unsuccessful bids for the project last year, we were frustrated to have not been able to begin sooner. Now that we are under contract, we can finally move forward and make the highway improvements this coming summer.”
While CDOT had hoped the work would take place this fall, the contractor bids received for the project were rejected since the estimates exceeded the engineers’ estimates. Colorado state law dictates that CDOT only accept project bids within 10 percent of engineering estimates when there are less than three bids, so CDOT had to re-advertise the project to obtain new bids based on adjusted engineering estimates.
The project is the third phase of a partnership between CDOT and Eagle County to add shoulders to US 6 between Wolcott and Eagle. This $2.1 million project ($1 million of which was provided by Eagle County) will include shoulder widening (from non-existent shoulders to two foot shoulders) and an asphalt overlay of US 6 between mile marker (MM) 153 and MM 158 (about six miles east of Eagle to a mile west of Wolcott, which is at MM 159). Work will also include grading, drainage, and resurfacing improvements at the parking lot located south of I-70 at the Wolcott interchange.
Elam Construction, based in Grand Junction, will be the contractor for this $2.1 million project.
Two earlier phases of the project have already been completed, including one finished in 2009 to improve a section of US 6 east of Wolcott. The $2.5 million project ($1 million of which was provided by Eagle County for shoulders) widened the shoulders to two feet and resurfaced the highway between MM 158 (east of Wolcott) to MM 163.
The first phase of the project was completed in 2008, which widened and resurfaced a section of US 6 east of Eagle between MM 151 and MM 153 for a contract amount $722,341.
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