A wage dispute between the NCDOT and the U.S. Department of Labor has delayed the bid opening for this project. The dispute involves estimates the Labor Department uses to set wage rates for projects that use federal money, such as the long-awaited pedestrian/cyclist bridge near Southpoint Mall.
City Manager Tom Bonfield notified City Council members Thursday that the dispute won’t be settled until after Jan. 1. Therefore, the bid opening scheduled for Dec. 15 has been pushed off until Jan. 25. To read more please see article in the News & Observer.com
Good News in late December: N.C. Department of Transportation officials have given Durham the all-clear to take new bids on Jan. 25 from contractors interested in building the bridge over I-40 and construction of ~4 miles of trail (Phase E of the ATT). DOT had tried to delay the use of new Federal wage guidelines on new projects until later in 2012 but has now decided to let Durham proceed with this procurement. For more on this story please see the recent Herald-Sun article To see planning and bid documents and periodic reports on the status of Phase E, you may want to access the City’s web site.
