A $1.86 million bid to build a bridge over Whitewater Creek for the West Fayetteville Bypass is expected to be approved by the Fayette County Commission Thursday night.
The low bid from McCarthy Improvement Company beat out the next highest bid from Sunbelt Structures at $1.9 million, and two other bids topping $2 million each.
The county received a total of four bids for the project after sending out 15 invitations directly to contractors, as well as advertising the bid on the Internet and in the county’s legal organ.
Like all other facets of the West Fayetteville Bypass, funds for the bridge construction will come from the county’s 2004 transportation sales tax proceeds.
The bypass, once complete, will begin at Ga. Highway 92 and Westbridge Road, traveling south to Ga. Highway 54 west of Piedmont Fayette Hospital. From there it will follow Lester Road to Ebenezer Church Road, Redwine Road and Harp Road to link with Ga. Highway 85 south of Fayetteville; all of these links are part of the third and final phase of the road.
In other business Thursday, the commission will consider a recommendation to authorize a needs assessment report for the Fayette County Jail. The report will help the county determine whether it can feasibly repair and modify the old jail or if it would be les costly to build a new pod onto the current jail.
The study proposed by Mallett Consulting would also look at the cost of boarding jail inmates at other facilities when the inmate population exceeds the jail’s housing capacity, and other potential options.
The study would cost $4,750.
