The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) will restart the bidding
process for the “U.S. 26 Mt. Hood Highway Safety and Preservation Project”
after the five bids submitted for the project substantially exceeded the funding
available.

ODOT is expected to reduce the scope of the project, which included adding a
concrete median in a 2.3-mile section of the highway between Kiwanis Camp
Road and the Mirror Lake trailhead and blasting various rock faces to widen
the highway and increase safety.

“It’s a setback for the project,” ODOT Community Affairs Director Kimberly
Dinwiddie said. “We’re looking at the project, we’re looking at the safety
needs of the highway. What we really need to do is address the safety
concerns, however we do have a budget we have to stick to. It’s in the best
interests of everybody that we stick to that budget.”

Dinwiddie noted ODOT has budgeted a total of $27.85 million for the project,
but that total is for all phases, including inspections, surveys, permits,
engineering, public notification and the actual construction work.

“The bids are based upon an Engineers Estimate,” Dinwiddie wrote in an email
to The Mountain Times.

“ODOT does not disclose the Engineers Estimate in order to avoid jeopardizing
future competitive bids. When ODOT receives a bid that is 10 percent higher
than the Engineers Estimate, we do consider awarding a contract. However, in
the case of the Mt. Hood Safety Project, the five bids we received were
substantially higher than 10 percent over the Engineers Estimate.”

Dinwiddie noted the hope is to have bids by March and to begin construction
sometime in late spring or summer.

The bid process will not give any local bidders extra credit.