Bids for the next phase of the Highway 84/285 construction project have come in more than $2 million over an engineer’s estimate from the state Highway Department.
Four companies bid on the .65 mile-project at the intersection of State Roads 106 and 399 and Highway 84/285 just north of Española. Plans call for the contractor to repave the highway near the intersection, add frontage roads along the highway that lead south into Arroyo Seco and move the intersection slightly south of its current location. The engineer’s estimate for the project was $6,695,569.95 with the lowest bid, from Taos-based Northern Mountain Constructors, coming in at $8,524,540. The bids were opened Aug. 1.
Ron Trujillo, chief of the Department’s Plans Specifications and Estimates Bureau, said the Department’s estimate does not represent the project’s actual cost but serves as more of a place-holder while the project is being designed.
“It may have been on the low side, but the estimate is just to see where we’re at when we’re designing and authorizing the project,” Trujillo said. “It doesn’t really represent what the actual is, we could have been low on some things. We’ll have to review that and decide whether we award this or rebid.”
The other three firms to submit bids for the project were: Fisher Sand and Gravel ($8,524.540), of North Dakota, A.S. Horner Inc. ($9,131,772), of Albuquerque, and David Montoya Construction ($10,333,451), of Albuquerque.
Trujillo cited the rising cost of oil as one factor that might have contributed to the higher-than-expected bids, but said waiting to rebid the project could lead to even higher prices. Trujillo said the Department would likely review the bids Aug. 13 and make a decision on the contract award around Aug. 21.
“We’ve got two projects that have priority, the (Interstate 40) and Spaceport projects, but we should review these next Wednesday and I’m hoping we’ll have it done a week from then,” Trujillo said.
Once a contract is awarded, the company that is selected has 180 days to complete the project, Trujillo said.
The construction project is part of a larger, and still ongoing project to renovate the highway between Española and Pojoaque. Construction along the highway between the Pojoaque Pueblo border and Arroyo Seco and in Española is scheduled to be bid Nov. 21. According to the Department’s bidding schedule, those two projects are flagged as being “high risk,” which means there is a good chance they will not be complete by that date.
SUN Staff Report
The death of a 22-year-old Española man, initially being investigated as a potential homicide, has been ruled an accidental drug overdose by state medical investigators.
Manuel Archuleta’s body was discovered May 11 in the Rio Grande bosque behind the Española seventh grade school. Because there was no immediate evidence of an overdose, and because Archuleta had recently been wounded during a large altercation, Española Police began investigating his death as a possible murder.
But an autopsy report by the state Office of the Medical Investigator, released Monday, states that “acute cocaine and alcohol toxicity” caused Archuleta’s death.
Archuleta’s aunt, Martha Archuleta, wrote a letter describing her nephew’s love for his family and decrying the media’s focus on “vices and negativity.”
“While it has been a great loss for our family and we struggle to get by, we know that at least we knew the ‘real’ Manny, who despite living a difficult life, loved his baby girl, family and friends so much, that he’d give his shirt off his back for any of them,” Archuleta wrote. “If people could see a grandmother who still cries upon mention of her precious grandson or the father, mother, brothers and sisters, aunt and countless others who are suffering sleepless nights remembering Manny, they would know just how important he was and how he impacted others’ lives — for the better.”
SUN Staff Report
The body of a Santa Cruz man was discovered Sunday evening behind the Las Lomas apartments, according to police.
Anthony Jaramillo, 40, was found lying beneath a tree to the east of the housing complex, an Española Police report states.
Española Police Department Deputy Chief Larry Ham said detectives found no obvious signs of foul play. They will await an autopsy and toxicology screening to determine the cause of death, Ham said.