As a Kentucky Transportation Cabinet bid committee prepares to award the contract to replace the Eggner’s Ferry Bridge over Kentucky Lake, a protest filed against the low-bidding construction company has been rejected.
In a letter dated Jan. 3, Ohio’s C.J. Mahan Construction said the low bid of $131.5 million by Johnson Bros. Corp. is “materially unbalanced” and lacks integrity and reliability. C.J. Mahan had the second-lowest bid with $135.7 million.
In all, eight companies submitted bids on the project with seven of the eight bids coming within $16 million of each other.
KYTC spokesman Keith Todd said with the protest rejected, the bid committee, comprised of a senior staff of cabinet engineers, should hopefully award the contract in the next couple of days.
The committee previously said the contract would be awarded ideally by the end of January. Todd said KYTC wants the project completed in the next two years, so it’s critical to move forward with the contract soon.
