Kalispell's Knife River lowest bidder on segment of bypass

Knife River of Kalispell came in as the apparent low bidder for the second phase of Kalispell’s southern U.S. 93 Alternate Route.

Knife River’s bid of $8.2 million was the lowest of six bids that the Montana Department of Transportation opened on Thursday morning. Director Jim Lynch said his office is reviewing all the bid documents to be sure they meet specifications.

If everything is in order, he will recommend that the Montana Transportation Commission award a contract at its regular meeting on Tuesday.

If awarded the contract on Tuesday, Knife River will build the 1.5-mile length of the route from Airport Road to its intersection with U.S. 93 South.

On Nov. 17 Ames Construction of Utah won the contract to build the first phase of the south-half bypass. Its $12.5 million bid for the 1.54-mile stretch from U.S. 2 south to Foy’s Lake Road and then to Airport Road was the lowest of seven bids. The engineer’s estimate was $16.1 million.

Construction has not yet begun. Lynch said Ames is lining up sources of materials, talking with adjacent landowners and handling other logistics.

Ames also bid on the second phase Thursday, but came in the highest at $9.5 million.

Knife River, a North Dakota-based national corporation that bought out JTL Group of Kalispell a couple years ago, came in just $250,000 under Schellinger Construction of Columbia Falls.

Thursday’s bidders on the second phase were:

n Knife River, Kalispell, $8,198,198.

n Schellinger Construction, Columbia Falls, $8,448,241.

n Riverside Contracting, Missoula, $8,917,511.

n LHC Inc., Kalispell, $9,045,139.

n Nelcon Inc., Kalispell, $9,293,094.

n Ames Construction Inc., Utah, $9,464,579.

All six firms also bid on the first phase of construction.

The north half of the U.S. 93 alternate route, from U.S. 2 West to U.S. 93 North, will be completed when money becomes available.