HELENA — The bids are in for the Beattie Street Trailhead and Parking lot project, and the City of Helena says they’re significantly under initial estimates.
The project will add 18 paved parking spaces, and will include improvements on several blocks of Beattie Street.
In previous city meetings, some residents expressed concerns over the cost of the project which at the time was $650,000 with contingency.
“I can’t explain all the reasons why but they came in, even with paving the parking lot, they came in around $314,000,” said Leland.
Leland said all the bids came in around the same price, so they’re not worried about having a low bidder who didn’t understand the scope of the project.
“These contractors are dirt movers,” said Leland. “They move a lot of dirt, they know how to do it efficiently and they know how to make money at it. I think that’s some of the reasons we were able to get it at such a cheaper price than what we were expecting.”
The Helena City Commission will consider the bids on Monday Mar. 9 at the commission meeting.
Leland says ground frost depth is only around 2 feet in the area right now, and they could realistically start work in early April.
The City is anticipating the area to be impacted for about 6 weeks once construction begins.
