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Rail bids for V&M open way off track
Lowest tops $13.6M estimate by $4.5M
By DAVID SKOLNICK
YOUNGSTOWN
City officials had estimated the cost of a railroad-relocation project needed for V&M Star’s $650 million expansion project at $13.56 million.
When the four proposals to do the relocation were opened Friday, they ranged from $18.18 million to $20.21 million.
“We were very surprised,” said Charles Shasho, deputy director of the city’s public-works department. “We thought the bids would come in real close to the estimate. It looks like the price of rail is more than we expected.”
The $13.56 million is the lion’s share of the nearly $19 million received from the federal stimulus package for work to be done near V&M’s expansion project.
The city charter doesn’t permit the awarding of contracts to bidders that exceed the engineer’s estimate, Shasho said.
Though city public-works officials will review the proposals and the bid specifications for this project, the project “will most likely be rebid,” Shasho said.
The city also will discuss the proposals with officials from V&M Star and the Ohio Department of Transportation, he said.
The city probably will have to reduce the scope of the project, Shasho said.
This project is to relocate, remove and rebuild Norfolk Southern Railroad lines as well as install storm sewers and railroad crossings, Shasho said.
The work has to be completed by late 2012 under the guidelines of the federal stimulus package, also known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
This project will take 300 days to finish, Shasho said.
It was supposed to start in July, he said.
The railroad work most likely won’t impact V&M’s construction of an expansion near its Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard facility, Shasho said.
Also, the city will open proposals next Friday for remediation and demolition work to the former Youngstown Sheet & Tube office building near the entrance to the V&M expansion site.