Construction contract to replace Highway 965 bridge deck approved

IOWA CITY - The cost to replace the deck of the Highway 965 bridge in Johnson County is half of what officials originally estimated.

The five-member Johnson County Board of Supervisors on Thursday voted unanimously to approve a contract with Grimes-based Cramer and Associates to replace the deck.

Cost of the project is $996,330, lower than the $2 million price tag originally estimated by county officials.

'The fact that we got a favorable bid this late in the season on a crunch schedule is just tremendous,” said Supervisor Janelle Rettig.

The county discovered cracking in the southbound lane of the bridge in May. Since then, the bridge has been under a weight limit restriction of 20 tons and traffic has been reduced to one lane controlled by traffic signals.

Work to replace the deck is expected to begin Sept. 6 and is to require the bridge - which goes over the Iowa River - to be completely closed. Rob Winstead, assistant county engineer, said he expects the project to be completed by the end of November.

Winstead told the board the final step is approving a construction phase services contract with VJ Engineering of Cedar Rapids. That contract is expected to be worth more than $107,000.

County officials received two other bids to replace the Highway 965 bridge deck, one from Iowa Bridge and Culvert for $1,029,000 and the other from Jasper Construction Services for almost $3 million.