Road projects costing less

There’s something to be said for spending money in a down economy: You’re sure to get some good deals.

Just ask the Nevada Department of Transportation.

So far, five of the projects that state transportation gurus have selected to receive federal stimulus money have been bid lower than the original estimated cost.

A lot lower, said Kent Cooper, assistant director of engineering for the Transportation Department.

The first project to go out to bid, a paving preservation project on Interstate 80 in Pershing County, came in at $12.4 million — $7.6 million less than the original estimated cost.

And each of the four following bids for paving preservation projects in Elko, Humboldt and Lander counties, and one that crosses into both Lincoln and Nye counties, have come in “under bid.”

“It’s excellent for the state,” Cooper said. “This will allow us to issue more projects than we had on the original list. It means the public gets more projects finished and we can employ more people.”

Nevada received $201 million for transportation projects from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

So far, the state has committed $47 million to projects, about 20 percent less than the $59.2 million estimated cost for those same projects.

Clark County will benefit from the lower costs, Cooper said.

Two of three projects the Transportation Department has added to its federal stimulus wish list are in Southern Nevada.

Both are paving preservation projects. One, on U.S. Highway 95 just north of Laughlin has an estimated cost of $3 million. The other, on U.S. Highway 93 from the Interstate 15 turnoff to the Lincoln County line, has an estimated cost of $2.9 million.

The third add-on project is also a paving preservation project, on U.S. 95 in Nye County from Jackass Flat to state Route 160 with an estimated cost of about $20 million.

Cooper thinks there’s probably a good chance that those and the other projects on the list will come in under bid, too. “We’re assuming we will add more,” he said.

The reason is that estimated costs take into consideration price averages over the past several years.

And prices were never higher than they were last year when the cost of gasoline was above $4 a gallon, Cooper said.

On top of that, the suffering world economy has sent the demand for construction material, such as asphalt, plummeting.

With the explosive growth in China and India over the last couple of years, sometimes “we couldn’t even get the stuff,” Cooper said.

This year, “the supply issue hasn’t been as prevalent,” he said.

The other reason for the lower bids is that companies are being as competitive as possible to make sure they get the project and keep their people at work, Cooper said.

We still don’t know the amount of jobs that will be created by the projects that have been bid, simply because most of the contracting companies haven’t begun construction, Cooper said.

So we’ll have to wait a little longer to see if the stimulus package is working when it comes to employing Nevadans.

For now, we’re at least getting more bang for our buck in the Silver State.

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