Larsen Construction Company of Chippewa Falls awarded contract

With seven project bidders and one contract winner, the Eighth Avenue bridge across the Wolf River in northwest Stanley will soon be replaced with a brand new span, after being closed back in October of 2019 for a failure to meet county regulations. At the time, the county bridge inspector wasn’t sure the rotting bridge posts still had their lift “I’m going to err on the side of caution,” bridge inspector Wayne Krecji said at the time of allowing vehicle and other traffic. From then till now, Eighth Avenue going out of town has been effectively closed to traffic—but not for much longer it would seem.

“If you do award the bid, they want to get started ASAP,” Russ Kiviniemi of Cedar Corporation informed the Stanley Common Council meeting as a Committee of the Whole at its March 1 meeting of recommended contractor Larsen Construction Company of Chippewa Falls.

ASAP, it was further made known by Kiviniemi, meant starting the week of March 8 and being done by May. With motion by Kevin Hendrickson seconded by Laurie Foster

See NEW BRIDGE, Page 3

Closed for safety conerns in October of 2019 (see “Exhibit A” in lower left corner), the Eighth Avenue bridge over the Wolf River will soon be replaced with a new road span—under budget, if plans go right! Staff photos. NEW BRIDGE

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to move the item to the regular session for Council approval, the Common Council meeting in regular session after the Committee of the Whole meeting ultimately awarded the new bridge contract to the firm recommended by Cedar, with a slate of DOT contracts due to come up for awards in March and leaving other contractors distracted from ‘small’ projects like Eighth Avenue Coming in nearly $60,000 under funding budgeted by the City with a bid of $280,490 and fifty-seven cents, Larsen beat out six other unnamed companies as the only bid presented to Council.

The pending bridge replacement, financed through an L-RIP grant, would be subject in part to DNR restrictions as far as being in Wolf River—possibly explaining the ‘Erosion Mat’ and ‘Turbidity (muddy water) barriers included for a combined total of $7,215, the lion’s share to controlling muddy water. So what else goes into building a bridge these days material-wise? Glad you asked.

Included in the bid tabulation as made by Larsen Construction, the removal of the old bridge “with minimal debris” is set to come in at just over five percent of the total project cost, or $14,890. Removal of nearby curb and gutter, meanwhile, is bid to cost the City of Stanley $382.50, while “Excavation Common” of 215 cubic yards of earth is bid to cost $4,009.75. “Excavations for Structures Bridges,” meanwhile, is set to cost $6,180, while Backfill Structure Type A” is due to cost $544, or $26.70 per ton.

Skipping down the sheet to the costlier items related to bridge replacement, the Eighth Avenue span is also bid for $86,837.96 in “Concrete Masonry Bridges,” $32,500 in Railing of “Tubular Type M,” and $30,942.20 in “Bar Steel Reinforcement HS Coated Structures.”

From there construction costs decline again, with four fourteen- foot posts of 4 x 6 foot dimensions together costing just $300. Traffic control, meanwhile, is bid to cost $2,572 taken as a flat price without unit divisions. So what about once it’s all done?

“There’s a one-year warranty,” Kiviniemi said in response to a question from Mark Fitzsimmons on bridge guarantees. “And that’s from final completion and final payment,” he said.