The batch of road and bridge bids that the state Transportation Commission accepted in the first half of April came in 7.64% above estimates. The latest batch came in 12.8% above estimates.
$8.43 million high for April—if the T-Board keeps approving over-estimate bids at that rate, we could end up spending over $100 million more fixing our roads than we expected in one year. With Governor Kristi Noem burning money up on free varmint traps and Matt McCaulley (those two sound like they belong together), are we headed for a deficit?
Don’t worry—these higher-than-expected road costs are no big deal… say the fellas making the bids:
Even Toby Crow, the top executive for the Associated General Contractors highway and heavy equipment chapter in South Dakota, was on the phone Thursday morning trying to put the situation in perspective for commissioners.
Crow said contractors went through a difficult 2018 construction season that was short on both ends and they’re spooked again this spring by the blizzards and heavy rains.
“I wouldn’t anticipate bid prices going down,” he told the commissioners. He added, “I don’t think you’re going to see things go crazy, weather permitting.”
Crow praised the state Department of Transportation for spreading out bid-lettings over four to five months. The last significant round comes in May.
“In a nutshell, I don’t think we’re at doomsday on bid prices,” Crow said.
The commission approved four projects straight out of the gate before Crow spoke [Bob Mercer, “Many Lowest Bids Ran High Again on SD Highway Projects,” KELO-TV, 2019.04.25].
Keep spending and carry on. Folks need quality roads so they can drive safely to safer states…
…but hey! Maybe we could save money and save lives by building fewer roads and just having everyone drive four-wheelers. Right now folks are driving more ATVs on the roads and getting killed when it’s safer to drive those toys on dirt!
Trump tariffs are beginning to trickle down and affect all aspects of American life with higher prices.
Farmers/ranchers will be paying higher prices for bridge guard rails to fence in feed lots.
This is a sore spot for me!!! To start with South Dakota roads seem to have always been built on the cheap. I drive in adjoining states and SD’s rural roads are in far worse shape. But hey the answer appears to be to abandon rural roads and turn paved roads back to gravel. A paved road that doesn’t require maintenance to one that requires regular grading and new applications of gravel!
Something I’ve noticed this spring that never used to occur. Even though all the roads were posted the farm grain trucks were still moving and ruining road’s! The fines would have been enormous but farmers probably weighted the almost non existent chance that the state would actually have someone out here to enforce the law and decided their chances were good.
Clyde is correct. Farmers know where the and if the police will have weigh station checkers. Those text messages will tell you when the coast is clear. BTW, these are the same farmers that bitch and moan about the conditions of the roads they ruin…just sayin.
I have traveled in a lot of places in Europe and I see that road construction is not such a big deal there. The road crews go out and strip a surface, mat it and then finish it..all in a day. They then move on to another site the next and an it goes. These roads are heavily traveled with thousands of cars and trucks a day. Yet they are able to pull it off. Recently, around Kadoka, it took months and months and months to do just 7 miles or so of road construction. I say either bring in the Chinese, the French or the Spaniards to get the jobs done. It looks like the Associated Contractors are back to screwing around with the bids like what was once done.
On farmers texting each other to avoid weight-checking cops: at least farmers are working together! It’s nice to see a strong sense of community. ;-)
Clyde, on gravel: does South Dakota pave more of its roads than surrounding states do?
Nick reminds us of the salient national point: Trump’s economic policies are harming the rural voters who think he’s so great. Tariffs make it more expensive for us to pave our roads.
I’m afraid Clyde is just flat out wrong in his assessment that SD has worse road conditions than other states.
https://www.businessinsider.com/map-road-quality-in-each-state-according-to-us-news-2018-4
It may be the roads Clyde frequents aren’t in the best repair, but overall we’ve got it pretty good.
I can verify, having driven thousands of miles in each of our neighboring states, that South Dakota’s roads are overall in better shape than many of our neighbors’.
I wonder if the link you submitted has more to do with the Interstate system as that would be for Federal dollars more so than state roads. If our roads are so stellar, then why are we spending 100 million to repair something that is excellent?
Good map, Wayne, and apparently more reliable data than any anecdote.
Wayne’s map conforms mostly with the data presented here by the Reason Foundation, which puts us in the top half of most rankings for highway efficiency and quality, with the exception of deficient bridges (we rank 31st, with higher rank meaning fewer bad bridges), rural arterial pavement condition (32nd, perhaps supporting Clyde’s experience), and fatality rates (43rd, with hgiher ranks meaning fewer deaths).