By Beacon Staff
The Burlington City Council has awarded the TIGER grant-funded Downtown Riverfront Revitalization Project to Portzen Construction, Inc., in Dubuque. The winning bid was for about $21.4 million.
That construction project is divided into two portions — redevelopment of Main and Jefferson streets and redevelopment of the riverfront. The bid on the Main and Jefferson streets portion of the project came in at $14,807,421.65, while the riverfront work came in at $6,633,284.41
The unanimous decision by the council continues a process that began in March 2018 when the city was awarded a $17 million Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant. Portzen Construction was the lowest bidder (of two companies) on the roadway improvement (Main and Jefferson Streets) by over $2 million and was the only bidder on the riverfront revitalization part of the project.
Previous bids were higher than estimated due to a COVID-19-related increase in construction costs.
City manager Chad Bird said there may be money to be saved once the city sits down with the contractor and arranges a construction schedule. The combined bid from Portzen Construction came in at $3,785,120.56 over the city engineer's estimate for the work.
“There might be cost savings in moving parts around a little bit,” Bird said.
TIGER grant funding will be used to modernize several aspects of Main and Jefferson streets in downtown Burlington. Some of the improvements associated with this project include:
• Pavement replacement on Jefferson Street from Central Ave to Front Street.
• Pavement and road replacement on Main Street from Court Street to Angular Street.
• Sewer separation on Main street from Maple Street to Market Street.
• Green infrastructure improvements on Jefferson and Main Street.
• A new 10-foot shared-use path connecting the riverfront trail from Market Street to South to Angular Street.
• New bus facilities at the Burlington Depot.
• Various aesthetic and boat ramp improvements at the riverfront.