State receives two bids to widen I-75

Two firms have responded to an advertisement to widen Interstate 75 in Collier and Lee counties, paving the way for extra lanes opening in four years.

A high-ranking Florida Department of Transportation official delivered the news Thursday at a meeting of the Southwest Florida Transportation Initiative at The Club at Mediterra.

Kiewit Southern-Granite and Anderson Columbia-Ajax, which are nationally known firms with experience working on interstate projects, have responded to the Florida Department of Transportation’s invitation to submit a request for proposal for the project.

Stanley Cann, the District One Secretary for the department, said one of these two firms will be chosen to widen from four to six lanes the more-than 30-mile stretch of the interstate from Golden Gate Parkway in Collier to Palm Beach Boulevard in Lee County.

“We’re moving ahead on this,” Cann told the crowd of more than 100 local, state and federal officials at the Transportation Initiative’s annual post-session legislative event.

Cann said after looking over the companies’ request for proposals, one of these firms will be hired in February. A notice to proceed work will likely be issued in April or May of next year.

The firm that is chosen must have the project done in three years after that notice is issued.

He said both firms have experience handling major transportation projects.

“That’s what we need for this project,” he said.

Cann said Anderson Columbia is a large contractor that has handled major road projects in North Florida, but it hasn’t worked down here.

“So there is new competition coming to Southwest Florida,” he said.

He said Kiewit has handled major transportation projects all over the country, and is working on the Alico interchange in Southwest Florida.

Cann said the overall project includes the excavation of retention ponds that will be needed for the eventual widening of the interstate to 10 lanes. The dirt that is dug up for these ponds will be used as fill for the widening project.

He noted that fill dirt costs have risen astronomically in recent years, and this will be a major savings.

The Southwest Florida Expressway Authority, which was formed by the Florida Legislature to explore the possibility of adding four more toll lanes on the interstate in addition to the six that are in the works, recently met for the first time.

The authority might end up adding the lanes simultaneously with the addition of the two that are planned in the next few years, according to Tom Conrecode, a Southwest Florida Transportation Initiative board member.

Cann said regardless of what the authority does with the toll-lane concept, the Florida Department of Transportation is proceeding with the addition of the two additional lanes.

Cann noted that on June 15, the Florida Turnpike Authority will be issuing a critical report documenting whether the toll project meets its criteria for handling it as one of its toll projects.

Even if the authority doesn’t believe it can handle the toll project, it could still come to fruition, Cann said.

“We’re going to see what the results (of the Florida Turnpike Authority) are. If it comes out that it doesn’t meet the criteria, at least we’ll have information for the authority to know what the traffic forecasts are. Then maybe (the Florida Department of Transportation) can take a look at it,” Cann said.

Cann said the Florida Turnpike Authority by statute must follow very strict guidelines about what projects it can take on. And because of this it has a very high bond rating.

The firm chosen will not only design and build the project, but put up the financing for it as well.

Debbie Tower, a Florida Department of Transportation spokeswoman, said outside the meeting that a different engineering and inspecting firm will be hired to check on the work of the primary contractor.

With so much construction work in Florida, FDOT and counties have had a hard time getting companies to bid on projects.

Cann said outside of the meeting that the Florida Department of Transportation tried its best to get companies to put in proposals on this more-than $400 million project.

“We want to get more companies to send in proposals,” he said. “There is some risk. There is the risk of the market here in Florida. With so much work going on, labor is scarce.”

Congressmen Connie Mack and Mario Diaz-Balart have been lobbying in Washington for money for this project, and last year more than $80 million funneled down to Southwest Florida as part of a national highway bill. Southwest Florida Transportation Initiative officials praised their efforts at Thursday’s meeting.