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Project Evaluation: US 101, SR 105 Mitigation, Willapa River Estuarine

Pacific County

This project raised a 1.5-mile section of US 101 by three feet near Potter Slough south of the city of South Bend.  This will prevent the highway from being flooded during high water events after nearby dikes are removed as part of the Willapa River estuary restoration project.  Work also improved the storm water runoff system and created a highway pullout area large enough for five vehicles.  The Willapa River estuary restoration project will convert 300 acres of diked pastureland back into a tidal estuary, and re-contour another 100 acres of wetlands on the upland side of US 101 to improve habitat for waterfowl and other wildlife. This project is sponsored by the WA Department of Fish and Wildlife, WSDOT, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and Ducks Unlimited.

Design: Construction Management : Schedule: Cost:  Engineer’s estimate:  $2,606,205 Contractor’s bid amount:  $2,785,093 Anticipated final payment to contractor:  $2,950,000

Construction Summary:

This project was advertised for contractor's bids twice. The first bid results exceeded the engineer’s estimate. Material substitutions were made, which brought the project inline during the second advertisement. The lowest bidder in the second advertisement also exceeded the engineer’s estimate, by a relatively small amount.  WSDOT decided to award the project after obtaining additional funding to make up the difference between the bid amount and the engineer’s estimate. 

The contractor worked well with WSDOT in the administration of this project. The few on-site issues that developed between WSDOT were resolved quickly via on-site meetings with staff. 

In addition to raising the highway, the ditches adjacent to the highway needed to be filled.  At the time of design, they were full of water and organic matter.  This made it very difficult to estimate the amount of fill material (sand and gravel) that would be required.  As a result, the actual amount of fill material used overran the engineer’s estimate for this item of work, and the project was delivered over budget by approximately $165,000.

Re-advertising of this project also resulted in construction taking place later in the year, which caused increased weather impacts during construction. The contractor worked diligently to get the fill material in place and compacted as quickly as possible, but weather conditions deteriorated as the paving operations commenced. Despite this challenge, the project was finished within the allotted contract time.

Contact Information
Contractor (US 101 portion of the project only):

Scarsella Brothers, Inc.

Seattle, WA

WSDOT Contact:

Richard Hensley, Chehalis Area Engineer

360-740-8600

henlerg@wsdot.wa.gov

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