The South Dakota Transportation Commission on Thursday approved a nearly $290 million bid — about $40 million above the state’s estimate — to replace the Platte-Winner Bridge.
The vote means the state is moving forward with what Department of Transportation Secretary Joel Jundt called “the largest project that the DOT has ever led.”
The commission accepted Ames Construction’s $289.99 million bid to replace the state Highway 44 bridge over the Missouri River in the southeast part of the state. The bid is about $39.25 million, or 15.7%, above the state’s estimate of $250.74 million.
Ames Construction is headquartered in Burnsville, Minnesota. Three other companies submitted higher bids ranging from $306 million to $450 million.
Ames also submitted a $652,125 bid for a smaller bridge project in Douglas County that was bundled with the Platte-Winner project. That bid was about $64,500 below the state’s estimate.
Jundt told commissioners the state has enough money to proceed despite the Platte-Winner bid coming in substantially higher than anticipated.
“Do we have the money to afford the project?” Jundt said. “We would answer the question as a positive yes.”
Jundt said the department has spent years planning how to pay for it without overstressing the federal funding the state relies on for major highway projects.
Beyond that, the Platte-Winner project has received a $65 million Federal Highway Administration Competitive Highway Bridge Program grant and $25 million secured by the state’s congressional delegation.
Jundt said the department is also awaiting a decision on another federal grant application and will continue pursuing other federal funding.
Jundt told commissioners the higher cost can be covered with the department’s regular federal funding. Because construction will take several years, the department will not pay the entire contract at once. Contractors are reimbursed as work is completed and accepted by the state.
Department staff attributed the higher bids to complexities with building in deep water, specialized equipment, the bridge’s size, market conditions and the remote location, which creates logistical costs.
The new bridge will be about 5,770 feet long and built just north of the existing bridge, allowing traffic to continue using the old structure during construction. Work could begin this fall.
The department hopes the bridge will be open to traffic by June 2030, with final completion, including removal of the existing bridge, scheduled for November 2031.
The existing bridge opened in 1966 and, at 5,655 feet, is South Dakota’s longest. The department has said deterioration and long-term structural concerns require a replacement.
While Jundt said the state can afford the Platte-Winner Bridge project, he cautioned commissioners the same cannot yet be said about the state’s next major bridge replacement.
“I do not feel comfortable moving forward,” Jundt said.
The next bridge is the U.S. Highway 212 Forest City Bridge over the Missouri River, west of Gettysburg in the north-central part of the state. The existing bridge opened in 1958, and the department has said landslides along its southern approach have resulted in millions of dollars in repairs and mitigation work.
Jundt told commissioners the project is expected to be even more expensive.
“The funding is not there for that project, nor the other projects in the future,” he said.
Jundt said the state will have to determine how to finance those projects in coming years, depending in part on future federal funding.
“We’ll cross that bridge, pun intended, here in the next few years,” he said.
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