By Dan Spalding
News Now Warsaw
WARSAW — Supply chain issues and inflation have caused the price of capital improvement projects to skyrocket since the end of the pandemic, but it looks like that trend is ending.
Evidence of that was seen when Warsaw city officials opened bids last week for the third and final phase of road reconstruction for Hodge’s addition.
Estimates expected the price to be around $1.6 million, but the lowest of two bids came in at $1.1.
Public Works Superintendent Dustin Dillon said he’s talked with others in similar positions across the state who have reported similar circumstances.
“It’s been a little bit of a trend here, so the things are kind of getting back to normal and coming in a little cheaper,” Dillon said. “There for a while, we were seeing things that were coming in way over the engineering budget so from our standpoint, it’s exciting to see, for sure.”
The upcoming work is set to begin this summer and will include new curbs, gutter, sidewalks (with ADA ramps) and stormwater, Dillon said.
All three phases of the Hodges project have relied on money from the state’s Community Crossings program which covers half of the cost.
Dillon said reliance on that money has become crucial.
“It’s been an incredible tool for us. It’s a dollar for dollar match so we’re going to go after every grant dollar we can,” Dillon said.
As a result of the decreased price of the project, which was based on the engineering forecast, the city will have to return some of the money received for the work, he said.
Dillon said the bulk of work on phase 3 will be done this year, but that the timetable extends into early 2025.
