Fuel tax increase used to fund four of six contracts awarded by commission

Contracts totaling $18.7 million for six highway projects, including four pavement preservation projects made possible by increased state fuel tax revenue, were awarded by the Wyoming Transportation Commission during its December meeting conducted Dec. 12 in Casper.

Since the fuel tax increase went into effect in July, a total of ten pavement preservation projects, covering more than 82 miles of highway at a cost of about $29 million, have been awarded by the Commission. Nine more projects accounting for another 39 miles of similar work are slated to go to contract between now and next summer.

High Country Construction, Inc., of Lander was the low bidder for the largest of the four fuel tax projects. The $6.9 million job includes pavement overlay and minor widening work on 5.1 miles of WYO 116 in Crook County. The project area is located between mileposts 16 and 21 on WYO 116 south of Sundance, and the widening work will boost the road shoulders from two to four feet. The project also includes replacing a nearly six-decade old bridge over Inyan Kara Creek. High Country Construction's contract carries a completion date of June 30, 2015.

LeGrand Johnson Construction Co. of Logan, UT, submitted the winning bid of $2.8 million for another fuel tax project, which will consist primarily of pavement milling and resurfacing work on 10.5 miles (mileposts 24-34) of US 189 immediately south of Kemmerer. The asphalt milled from the existing pavement will be reused along the shoulders. The project is slated from completion by next Oct. 31.

The third fuel tax project, involving WYO 28 in southwest Wyoming, was awarded to McGarvin-Moberly Construction Co. of Worland. The $1.9 million effort mostly involves  pavement overlay on a 10-mile section (mileposts 14-24) of WYO 28 in Sweetwater and Sublette counties between Farson and South Pass. The completion date is also Oct. 31.

Also being funded by the fuel tax increase is a $369,000 project awarded to 71 Construction of Casper. The work consists of pavement rehabilitation, mostly milling and resurfacing work, for 0.3 mile (between mileposts 116 and 117) on US 20 through the three tunnels at the south end of Wind River Canyon between Shoshoni and Thermopolis. The work should be complete by next July 31.

Knife River Corp. of Casper was the low bidder, at $5.5 million, to mill and resurface 6.3 miles of I-80 in the Vedauwoo area between Laramie and Cheyenne. The work involves both east and west bound travel lanes between mileposts 324 and 330 and also includes bridge rehabilitation at the Vedauwoo Interchange (exit 329) and the Blair Road separation (milepost 326.6). Knife River's contract has a completion date of Oct. 31.

Advanced Electrical Contracting of Sheridan won a $1.3 million project to install electronic "dynamic message" signs over I-25 near Casper. The overhead signs, which will be used to post travel advisories and other information visible to north and southbound travelers, will be located near milepost 180, east of Hat Six Road Interchange (exit 192), and near milepost 196, south of Ormsby Road Interchange (exit 197). The work, which also includes installation of a telecommunications relay tower along I-25 in Casper, has an Oct. 31 completion date.