ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, February 16, 1996 TAG: 9602160022
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG
SOURCE: BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
Work on the next stage of the Huckleberry Trail between Blacksburg and Merrimac Road should begin this spring, following a decision Thursday by the Commonwealth Transportation Board.
The state transportation panel endorsed L.H. Sawyer Paving Co.'s $366,576 low bid to build 3.2 miles of the trail from its current dead end near the Virginia Tech Airport to Merrimac and Hightop roads near Columbia Montgomery Regional Hospital.
Last month, the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors endorsed the Sawyer bid 6-1 on the conditions that none of the other three bidders contested the decision within 10 days, and the Commonwealth Transportation Board gave its OK.
Though the second-lowest bidder, C.R. Meador General Contractors of Pulaski, had earlier written the county to protest the moving of the bid opening from Jan. 10 to 11, the firm did not file a formal protest by the time the 10-day limit expired last week. Montgomery officials said they moved the bid opening because county offices had been closed because of early January's major snow storm.
Meador did contact the Virginia Department of Transportation with a complaint about the bid process, said county planner Jeff Rice. But VDOT officials checked the county's procedures and gave their OK, he said.
Thursday's approval means construction should begin next month and be finished within six months, or by early fall.
The bid from L.H. Sawyer Paving, a Salem company, came in 6.8 percent higher than Huckleberry planners had hoped. That may cut into funding for the 2.25-mile second phase, or force trail supporters to seek additional private or government funds. That part of the trail should go out to bid later this year once planners finish acquiring the right of way.
The Huckleberry Trail is planned as a six-mile rails-to-trails link between the New River Valley Mall in Christiansburg and downtown Blacksburg. It generally will follow the path of an old railway spur and will be open to walkers and bicyclists. Currently the trail runs just three-quarters of a mile from behind the Blacksburg branch library to a dogleg near Margaret Beeks Elementary School.
LENGTH: Short : 47 linesby CNB