An apparent low bid of less than $11 million has been submitted for construction of a Shelby Road extension that was expected to cost $15 million.
The Poplar Bluff City Council is expected to review nine bids for the project at their meeting Monday evening.
The project would involve a 2.5-mile extension, which would connect Kanell Boulevard with Highway 53.
The apparent low bidder is Robertson Contractors of Poplar Bluff, which submitted a base bid of approximately $8.1 million.
Project costs would increase by approximately $2 million if the council chooses to also accept bids for additional work involving a walking trail, signal light, bridge and other items.
The city is anxious to get started with this project, said city manager Mark Massingham.
"I was very pleased with the bids we received," Massingham said. "Other than two of them, they were all fairly close, which means they are good, accurate bids. It's always nice to be able to award bids to local contractors."
Base bids from the other companies ranged from nearly $10.4 million to more than $14.1 million.
The Poplar Bluff Regional Transportation District has roughly $11 million in project money left to fund the extension, said Billy Cobb, engineering manager with Smith and Company of Poplar Bluff.
Engineers were concerned even the base bid would exceed the available funding, which is why contractors were also asked to submit bids on five alternate projects, Cobb said.
Cobb believes the high amount of interest in the project helped drive down costs.
Also bidding were the following Missouri companies: Dumey Contractors of Benton; HR Quadri Contractors of Van Buren; Emery Sapp and Sons of Columbia; Milstone Weber and Kolb Grading, both of St. Charles; KAJAC's Contractors and Young's General Contracting, both of Poplar Bluff; and Bloomsdale Excavating Company of Bloomsdale.
Overall costs for earth work were also cheaper from many of the bidders, Cobb said.
The contractor will have 420 days to complete the project, although engineers believe it may take closer to a year to do the work, said Cobb.
Bond debt is being used to finance the project.
Payments will be made with money collected from a 1-cent transportation sales tax levied at more than 150 businesses in the Oak Grove Road, Kanell Boulevard and Westwood Boulevard areas. Payments are currently expected to continue through 2039 and 2046.
There are also approximately $2.2 million in costs related to the purchase of land and right of way, some of which has already been paid.
The PBRTDD was set up to fund a series of phase 1 and phase 2 transportation improvements.
The Shelby Road extension is the final phase 1 project, which would allow remaining money to go toward phase 2 work.
The district still owes approximately $780,000 to Larry Hillis for a phase 2 road already constructed on the north side of Poplar Bluff, near Walmart Neighborhood Market.