Montana’s Department of Transportation

By NANCY KIMBALL/Daily Inter Lake

The voice of Montana’s Department of Transportation director came through loud and clear from the speaker phone in the Kalispell Chamber of Commerce office Tuesday morning.

“Kalispell, you have the start of a bypass,” Jim Lynch said.

A cheer went up from a group of local leaders listening in by teleconference as the Montana Transportation Commission awarded the contract to Ames Construction for the first 1.54-mile segment of the south half of the U.S. 93 Bypass.

This stretch of road will go south from U.S. 2 near Rodeway Inn to Airport Road. Bids will be let for the second stretch of the south-half route on Dec. 3.

Ames, a nationwide firm that bid the job from its West Valley, Utah, office, will do the job for $12.5 million, 22.41 percent under the state estimate. Its bid was the lowest of seven submitted last Thursday. Nelcon Inc. of Kalispell was the lowest of the five local firms bidding and the second-lowest overall at $13 million.

Lynch acknowledged the city’s sentiment that had pushed for a local firm to get the job, but explained both state and federal highway laws require that jobs go to the “lowest responsive bidder.”

The highway department reviewed bid documents to be sure Ames bid to the specifications and to confirm it is licensed to do business in Montana.

“Sometimes it comes as bittersweet,” Lynch said. “But sometimes you have to award the bid to one that’s not in-state.”


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