City of Washougal leaders are moving ahead with their project to replace a small pedestrian bridge at Hartwood Park, even though the project will cost significantly more than they had anticipated.
Washougal City Council members on Monday, May 23, approved a contract with Washougal-based McDonald Excavating to replace the deteriorating bridge this spring for an additional $172,356, bringing the total cost of the project to $339,526 – about $80,000 more than the estimate the city received in the fall of 2021.
“It’s just very disappointing when this happens,” Washougal City Manager David Scott said during the council’s May 9 workshop. “The environment and inflationary pressures and all of the things that we’re all aware of have made the cost of this project about $80,000 more than was estimated about six months ago. It’s just unbelievable what’s happening in the bidding. It’s just not normal.”
The city initially solicited contract proposals for the project in February and received no bids.
“We talked to some of the contractors, and they said, ‘Well, we’re really busy. We just couldn’t fit this into our schedule,'” Washougal city engineer Rob Charles said during the May 9 workshop. “We re-packaged it, did a couple of things to ease some of the contractors’ concerns, re-bid it about a month ago and got two bids this time. … We did not estimate (the low bid would be) that high.”