State declines to fund Jackson pavement improvement project

Citing the high price tag contained in recent bidding, the state's Highways and Transportation Commission has decided not to fund a project to upgrade a 3.55-mile stretch of West Jackson Boulevard in Jackson.

Missouri Department of Transportation had planned pavement improvement and other work on the roadway between the Highway 34/72 "Starlite" intersection and the Highway 61/25 intersection at Goose Creek near Harps supermarket.

The low bid of $3,027,583.14 received Nov. 18, was deemed excessive and the commission, in a meeting earlier this month, declined to authorize funding.

"The bids received were significantly higher than the program amount," said Andy Meyer, assistant district engineer for Missouri Department of Transportation's Southeast region.

"What (MoDOT) put in our program is an estimate and what [contractors] submit is a detailed analysis based on what they believe their costs will be based on suppliers. Over the last six months, we've seen asphalt prices go up dramatically," said Meyer, adding the asphalt "index" has increased 50% — substantially increasing the cost of paving projects.

"Cape Girardeau County Commissioner [Charlie] Herbst has made similar comments about what his county has seen in its asphalt bids. It's across the board. The demand is high and supplies are low," Meyer added.

Included in the West Jackson Boulevard project was the maintenance of various median islands along the route.

"At least one of the bidders shared the contract's requirement mandating work be done at night because of high traffic volumes during the day was difficult and drove up [its] cost," Meyer said.

What's next

Highways and Transportation Commission's decision to decline authorization of the West Jackson Boulevard project effectively delays the work by a year.

"We'll do our best to bring the cost down if we can and work with the contractors' comments to figure out how best to do that. It's disappointing when you can't award a project. Coming out of COVID, contractors are regrouping, trying to build their crews back up and pick up work. Truthfully, there's a lot of work going on statewide right now," Meyer told the Southeast Missourian.

"Realistically, most of the time we let a lot of our asphalt work in the fall [and] the thought there is the timing allows contractors to book the work and manufacture aggregate through their suppliers in the spring," Meyer said, noting the job will now most likely be advertised again in autumn 2023 with construction scheduled in 2024.