SCDOT seeks bids on 18-mile I-26 corridor improvement between Exits 136 and 145

The South Carolina Department of Transportation will open bids Nov. 10 on an Interstate 26 corridor improvement from near Exit 136 to Exit 145. It is the longest-running contract on the department's November letting.

According to SCDOT's Notice to Contractors, call 250 (PCN P041362, SC file 5777251) covers about 18 miles in Calhoun and Orangeburg counties. It is federally funded, lists a 0% DBE goal and has a completion date of Aug. 31, 2030.

What the item list signals

The proposal's items include:

• bridge construction access, railroad insurance, and construction stakes, lines and grades;
• a mobilization line for subcontractors;
• on-the-job trainee hours for both roadway and bridge work, which signals SCDOT's training requirements on a long federal-aid job.

A utility subcontractor requirement

The notice says call 250 includes utility work under Section 105, Public Utility Relocation. The bidder must use a contractor from the SCDOT prequalified utility contractor list for the project. SCDOT calls this a material requirement: a bid that doesn't use a listed contractor at the time of submission will be considered nonresponsive.

Firms wanting to be added had to submit a Utility Subcontractor Approval Form, signed by the utility owner, at least seven days before the letting. The apparent low bidder must email utility worksheets and the names of its prequalified utility subs to SCDOT Contract Administration within three business days after the letting.

Bidding

• Only SCDOT-prequalified contractors may bid.
• Bids are electronic through Bid Express, with a 5% electronic bid bond on SCDOT Form 674.
• Proposals and plans are on the free Construction Extranet. Its discussion board helps primes and subs exchange quotes.

Our Calhoun and Orangeburg county hubs list SCDOT-prequalified firms in the area.

The scale, in quantities

Call 250's item list runs to about 440 lines. It describes a full reconstruction and widening program, not a resurfacing job:

• Earthwork: about 804,000 cubic yards of unclassified excavation, 842,000 cubic yards of borrow and 65,000 cubic yards of muck excavation;
• Paving: about 219,000 tons of Type A asphalt base, 152,000 tons of intermediate course and 85,500 tons of 9.5 mm stone matrix asphalt surface, on roughly 457,000 square yards of 6-inch graded aggregate base;
• Bridges: removal of seven existing bridges, about 10,700 cubic yards of Class 4000 structural concrete, 2.5 million pounds of bridge reinforcing steel, prestressed beams and bulb-tee beams, and about 47,000 feet of HP 14x89 steel H-piling;
• Safety and barrier: removal of 41,847 feet of cable barrier and 13,602 feet of guardrail, then new reinforced barrier wall, median cable barrier and MASH guardrail systems;
• Drainage: thousands of feet of smooth-wall and trenchless reinforced concrete pipe, 7-by-7-foot precast box culvert and dozens of catch basins and drop inlets.

Work-zone items include 10,000 hours of Department of Public Safety law enforcement, about 111,000 feet of temporary concrete barrier, 67 trailer-mounted changeable message signs and 28,000 feet of temporary glare screen. The list also includes railroad insurance listed for NS, 12 bat exclusion devices, and 76,440 roadway and 11,440 bridge on-the-job trainee hours.

What it means for subs

A job this size will be split into many packages: earthwork and hauling, pile driving, bridge decks, MSE walls, drainage, guardrail and cable barrier, striping, erosion control and grassing, and fencing, including more than 108,000 feet of 72-inch chain-link. Subs that want in should register on the Construction Extranet and watch the discussion board for primes requesting quotes.

Utility subcontractor rule

The utility-sub requirement on call 250 is easy to overlook. The notice calls it a material requirement of the solicitation, so a bid without a listed utility contractor will be treated as nonresponsive. To be added to the list, a utility contractor must submit a Utility Subcontractor Approval Form, signed by the utility owner, no later than seven days before the letting. Approved additions are issued by amendment to the proposal.