Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, September 2, 1994                   TAG: 9409020086
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DAN CASEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

BIDS FOR WALKWAY ARE MILLIONS HIGHER THAN STATE EXPECTED

Roanoke's bid to add a glitzy pedestrian walkway to its downtown skyline may cost millions more than anticipated, a hang-up that could force a redesign of the project and delay it for months.

The Virginia Department of Transportation had pegged the bridge's cost at roughly $3.2 million, but the lowest of four bids received from contractors is $5.3 million.

VDOT officials in Richmond were to decide today whether to redesign the structure to lower its cost and rebid it, or to recommend pushing forward despite the higher price tag, said Peter Sensabaugh, district construction engineer for VDOT's Salem office.

The latter option would cost taxpayers at least $2 million more for the project, which is 98 percent funded by the state transportation agency. Rebidding would postpone the walkway's opening, leaving Hotel Roanoke patrons without convenient access to downtown stores, restaurants and other attractions.

The hotel is expected to open April 1. City and state officials had hoped to have the walkway open then or by early summer at the latest.

"The decision is, does the importance of the project and the timeliness of the project come into play as to what we want to do?" Sensabaugh said.

At 390 feet long and 15 feet wide, the glass-enclosed bridge would cross 25 feet above Norfolk Southern Corp. tracks and link the Hotel Roanoke and Conference Center with the First Union Tower parking garage downtown. It would replace a perilous, at-grade crossing at Jefferson Street.

City officials regard the elevated walkway as a vital part of downtown redevelopment plans that include the hotel, reconstruction of Wells Avenue next to the hotel; a proposed vehicular bridge over the tracks at Second Street; and a three-block-long linear park between the City Market and the Virginia Museum of Transportation.

Because the First Union garage also will handle overflow parking when the hotel and conference center are booked, the link to the garage is "a critical element" for the hotel, said William F. Clark, city public works director.

"The pedestrian walkway is absolutely essential to tie in the Hotel Roanoke to the City Market and the rest of downtown," said Matthew Kennell, executive director of Downtown Roanoke Inc. "Every month that it doesn't open is just another month of lost opportunity to expand retail business downtown."

The lowest of four bids on the project came from Roanoke-based Branch Highways Inc., the same contractor now rebuilding Wells Avenue.

Branch's bid was $5,326,181. The high bid was roughly $1 million more - $6,327,083 - from Fort Chiswell Construction Corp., Sensabaugh said.

Even at the low bid, the cost is almost double the $2.8 million VDOT spent building the four-lane, 290-foot-long vehicular bridge at Fifth Street that opened Wednesday.

Sensabaugh said it's difficult to compare the two because the Fifth Street bridge is a fairly standard design. In contrast, the walkway requires custom-made steel beams, glass panes and other specialized materials.

The proposed contract also contains tough penalty clauses that would cost contractors for missing construction deadlines, Sensabaugh said. The estimated construction time is 10 months.

Mike Branch, vice president of Branch Highways, said it's impossible for him to tell where the company's bid deviated from VDOT estimates because the agency doesn't allow contractors to look at its estimates.

The project has "a tight time schedule and there are some unusual things involved in the construction, both in materials and techniques," he said. The tight schedule and penalty clauses increase a contractor's risk, elements that are built into the bid.

Also, "there are not too many pedestrian bridges built across railroad tracks anywhere, and that makes it somewhat unique, particularly because it's enclosed in glass," he said.

If the project moves forward, the city's share of the cost would increase from an estimated $65,000 to more than $100,000.

The city also is paying 100 percent of an additional 80-foot-long covered loggia, or walkway, between the hotel and the conference center. The loggia was estimated to cost an additional $135,000. It is unclear whether the loggia also will cost more than expected, Sensabaugh said.