(Video of project courtesy of DelDOT)
Construction of the long-envisioned Route 301 bypass project is closer to becoming a reality with the submission of apparent low bids for a large chunk of the project.
The 14-mile project would relieve congestion in fast-growing Middletown and help route through traffic, including large trucks.
The project is contingent validation of bids, as well as the sale of bonds and a signing off by state finance officials and the governor.
The bonds, approved by the Federal Highway Administration, allow toll revenues on the route time to build up over a period of years.
The bonds are also aimed at the project not hurting funding for other highway work in the state.
Mark Tudor, manager for the project, said the bids fell within the range of internal estimates of DelDOT.
Those estimates remained confidential to ensure a fair and robust bidding process. Few contractors would have the ability to bid on the entire project, which has a price of about half a billion dollars.
The apparent low bidder the northern end of the project was California-based Tutor Perini, a California-based construction giant that operates Cherry Hill Construction, a Maryland company. The bid totaled nearly $70 million.
Cherry Hill was the contractor on the complex, I-95, Route 7 project near Christiana Mall.
Allan Myers was the apparent low bidder on a longer portion of the route at nearly $94 million. The company, based in suburban Philadelphia, recently acquired, Delaware-based Daisy Construction and its construction materials operations.
Other segments of the project will go out for bid at a later date, pending approval of the initial projects, according to Tudor.
Based on experience here and elsewhere, it was decided not split up the project, due to the belief that smaller chunks of work would draw more bidders, Tudor said.
The region is also seeing a lot of construction work that is keeping heavy/highway contractors busy, particularly across the line in Maryland where Tutor-Perini/Cherry Hill was the low bidder on a trio of highway projects.
Projects and planning will also continue along Route 1, Tudor said. The busy route is being widened in a small area between Route 40 and 273.
If all goes according to plan, the project could be essentially completed by late 2019, although some projects could continue into the following year.
