Bessemer Highway Project goes for bids

BESSEMER — Bessemer is likely within days of calling for bids on its multi-million dollar sewer-water project, the council learned Monday. Engineer Darren Pionk said a Tuesday conference call with the funding agency was scheduled, which hopefully would iron out the final wrinkles to allow the project to go to bid. Pionk said the bids on the U.S. 2 rebuild, which were being sought by the Michigan Department of Transportation, should be in within a week. Those bids will give engineers an idea of what bids for the city’s share of the work may look like, cost-wise. Pionk said the bids for the city work are broken into a basic bid with add-in and deduction bids, to allow for flexibility. He said the city should have project bids in hand before the end of February. In the meantime, the city will be calling for bids on a smaller project, which is the statewide effort to get lead out of drinking water. As the city replaces mains, it will be replacing lines from curb stop to individual houses, eliminating old galvanized and other lead-containing lines. Thirdly, Pionk said the city will be in line for an asset management grant to meet state requirements for the continued management of the water and sewer utilities. Work on both the highway and the utility projects should begin this spring and continue through the following two construction seasons, according to earlier reports. More detail and comment in what was discussed during last nights Bessemer city council meeting in this weeks Wakefield News / Bessemer Pick and Axe.