Surprise windfall for road projects in Monroe and Lake Stevens

Published 11:00 pm Sunday, June 21, 2009

Soon, people who drive through Monroe and Lake Stevens will have a reason to give thanks for the recession.

Those two cities are getting some of their roads fixed because projects in other areas are costing less than expected.

And it could happen with other cities soon.

Around the state, road projects are coming in well under engineers’ estimates because competition for jobs among contractors is stiff, among other reasons.

“The good news in the bad economy is that construction prices go down,” Snohomish County Council chairman Mike Cooper said.

As of June 15, the state awarded contracts for 21 projects under the federal economic stimulus package, worth $95.7 million. These came in an average of 16 percent below estimate, said Lloyd Brown, a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation.

This saved millions that can be applied to other projects. By the end of this month, the state expects to have awarded contracts for nearly all 147 economic stimulus road projects. There’s likely to be savings from those projects as well.

The state has seen the same trend with other projects that it funds with state dollars. From July 2008 to April 2009, the state awarded 115 contracts overall, 100 of which came in an average of 29.5 percent below cost estimates, according to Gov. Chris Gregoire’s office.

The development reverses a trend over the previous four years that saw ever-rising construction costs, officials said.

“No question there is a lot more competition for these jobs,” said Rick Slunaker, director of government affairs for the Associated General Contractors, based in Seattle.

Some contractors are taking jobs they wouldn’t normally take, in some cases at barely a profit or even at a loss just to keep their businesses viable and their employees paid, he said.

Material costs also are much lower than they were a year ago, Slunaker said.

That’s led to projects on the cusp of getting funding now hitting the lottery.

Monroe and Lake Stevens are winners because they missed out on the first round of federal economic stimulus money, said Steve Thomsen, Snohomish County public works director. The county originally expected to pay $23 million for construction of the Granite Falls bypass partly by stimulus funds, but construction costs came in at only $13.8 million, executive director Brian Parry said.

Of the money saved, $3.5 million in stimulus funds will go to Monroe and Lake Stevens. Money saved on other stimulus projects will fall to projects on a list of 19 that didn’t make the original cut for that money.

Monroe will be able to build $3 million in improvements to the intersection of U.S. 2 at Chain Lake Road and Lewis Street.

“We’re really excited,” said Maggie Brown, Monroe’s managing engineer.

Traffic at the intersection will likely grow with expected development in the area, Brown said.

“It’s probably the biggest project Monroe’s done,” she said.

Lake Stevens will have a new roundabout at the intersection of Vernon Road, Lake Drive and Lundeen Parkway for $920,000.

The roundabout is expected to help alleviate backups at the busy intersection, said Dave Ostergaard, Lake Stevens public works director.

The county is still deciding which other road projects should get the remaining $6.5 million, executive director Brian Parry said.

Money saved on other state projects that aren’t part of stimulus efforts will go back into the fund that paid for that particular project, Brown said.

In another money-saving project in the county, the state expected to spend $21.4 million for construction to the I-5 interchange at 172nd Street NE in Smokey Point, but it is now costing only $12.9 million, Brown said.

In projects being built by Snohomish County, 13 recent nonstimulus road projects came in at a combined $27 million, compared with the original estimate of $41 million, Thomsen said.

“Almost all of them are coming in under budget,” Thomsen said. As to which projects the savings will go toward, “we’re working through that now,” he said.

Cities are enjoying lower bids as well.

In Marysville, projects have been coming in between 20 percent and 30 percent under engineers’ estimates, public works director Kevin Nielsen said.

Three projects this year in Everett — repaving, roadway markings and improvements to Holly Drive — came in an average of more than 16 percent under budget, saving more than $300,000 out of more than $2 million, said Richard Tarry, engineering services manager for the city.

If it keeps up, “over time that could accumulate into an amount that we could accomplish one more project a year,” he said.

Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439, sheets@heraldnet.com.