Lowest Bid For New City Trail Is $111,700

The City of Summerville is looking to spend $111,700 to extend its walking trail.
The Georgia Department of Community Affairs gave the city $120,720 to complete the project that extends the walking trail from the Summerville Depot and into J.R. “Dick” Dowdy Park.
The city must decide between two bids. Exceller Construction out of Marietta submitted a construction bid for $111,700. The other bid came from Integrated Construction, Whitesburg. It was much higher at $208,591.50.
“The good news is, Exceller meets our funding budget with the $111,000 bid,” Engineer Chad Sipes, of Carter Sloope Inc., told the council in a teleconference call.
“How much was budgeted for the project, mayor?” Councilman Joe Money, Jr., said.
“It’s $115,000, Joe,” Sipes said. “$115,000 is what he had budgeted for construction. . . Let me just say one more thing. Remember these prices include the bridge. Remember how we did the (RFP) request for proposals for the bridge long ago. So I think $34,000 of these prices include the actual bridge.”
As with a lot of grants, the city will have to include a cash match or do in-kind work. The city does not plan to use its dollars but instead will use employee labor to help construct the bridge that is engineered to cross the park’s creek. It will be similar to the wooden pedestrian pathway bridge the city added between Highway 27 and First Street.
The trail will terminate on a piece of property on Economy Street that the city owns.
A 55-foot long bridge will be constructed At Pioneer Bridges, Inc., in Fort Payne and shipped to the park.
“This bridge will be fabricated from atmospheric corrosion resistant weathering steel. The floor deck materials will be either lpe Hardwood decking or a ‘Trex’ or composite deck,” according to the bid specification. “Not included is the unloading, erection, support, anchor bolts and abutment designs.”