A Colorado construction company won the contract to build a replacement for the Minnesota bridge that collapsed and killed 13 people in August.
Longmont-based Flatiron Constructors Inc. will join Seattle-based Manson Construction Co. on the $233.8 million project.
The contract could be worth millions more if the Interstate 35W bridge over the Mississippi River is finished ahead of schedule.
The parent company of Flatiron, Netherlands-based Royal BAM Group, is on the verge of selling the Colorado bridge builder. The company said in a statement late last month that it is making “good progress” in its efforts to sell the company.
Flatiron has annual sales of $622 million and employs 1,800 people, according to Hoover’s Online, a business-information website. Other work the company has done includes significant portions of the $1 billion San Francisco/ Oakland Bay Bridge. It also worked on the repair of two Florida bridges damaged by Hurricane Ivan in 2004.
Transportation officials at a public ceremony announced the team’s winning bid, even though it was the most expensive and tied for the longest construction timetable – 437 days – among the four bids.
Officials had said before the opening that cost alone would not be the deciding factor. They chose the winner based on a formula that balanced speed and construction cost with other factors, including quality and aesthetics.
“We might pay a little more, but when we do that, we feel we get a little better approach,” project manager Jon Chiglo said.
The bridge that collapsed Aug. 1 was one of Minnesota’s busiest, carrying more than 100,000 vehicles over the Mississippi River every day, and the state wants it replaced by the end of 2008. To get it done, the state is dangling as much as $27 million in incentives.
Denver Post staff writer Margaret Jackson contributed to this report.
