Asheville I-26 Connector contract the 'largest' in NC history; What about local companies?

ASHEVILLE - The $1.15 billion final contract for the I-26 Connector project is the largest contract awarded in the state's history, according to a North Carolina Department of Transportation engineer presentation on the project May 17.

NCDOT Engineer Nathan Moneyham spoke about the scale of the project and contract during the May 17 French Broad River Metropolitan Planning Organization meeting, stating it was the largest awarded in the states history.

Of the three proposed designs for I-26's Section B, which runs from Haywood Road in West Asheville and crosses the French Broad to connect to U.S. 19/23/70 and U.S. 240, contractor Archer-Wright Joint Venture's $1.15 billion design was selected May 15 for the project. The section also includes improvements to Riverside Drive.

The FBRMPO is a partnership between local and state government that makes transportation planning decisions and meets planning requirements established by federal legislation for transportation funding, according to the FBRMPO website. The federally-mandated organization was created in 1962.

The NCDOT Design-Build process happens in two stages, according to the NCDOT website. First, NCDOT creates a shortlist of contractors based on contract applications. After that, NCDOT engineers determine the "best value" proposal by evaluating designs.

Other recent design-build contracts include a $242 million contract for a US-70 expansion in Craven County, a $287 million contract for a new freeway in Wake County and a $53 million upgrade to U.S. 70 in Cleveland County, according to the NCDOT website.

During the meeting, city councilmember Kim Roney asked how different neighborhoods, like the Burton Street neighborhood — a historically Black West Asheville neighborhood, which can expect major changes from the I-26 Connector project — might see long-term positive impacts from hiring local minority and women-owned contracting companies in the record setting project.

NCDOT engineers have separated some elements of the I-26 project out of the larger contract, which might be done by smaller local contractors, Moneyham said.

"If you've got a local contractor who's small, just getting started — working with a company like [Archer Western] is intimidating," Moneyham said. "So, we've tried to pull out smaller pieces of work, especially in the areas adjacent to those neighborhoods, where we can let smaller contracts."

'Optimization and refinement'

The I-26 Connector project has been in the pipeline for over 30 years, with local businesses, neighborhoods and the city of Asheville anticipating NCDOT to make way for the expansive project despite it facing multiple, long-term funding setbacks.

Funding setbacks could still be a problem for the project.

Because all bids came in above estimated cost of the project, NCDOT developed a new "Optimization and Refinement" process to ensure the project moves forward after the high bids indicated "it was in significant danger of, again, taking another round of significant delays," Moneyham said during the meeting.

The additional I-26 Connector Design-Build process also came with technical modifications and a proposed, secondary "adjusted bid" price of $846 million, which was significantly lower than Archer-Wright's $1.15 billion actual bid.

The over $300 million difference between the adjusted price and actual bid was the result of the new optimization process. The process will continue over the next six-months, as NCDOT works directly with Archer-Wright Joint Venture to reduce cost "to get it down to the point we can fully fund and begin construction," Moneyham said.

"We're not looking to undo anything," Moneyham said regarding I-26 Connector commitments. "But our main focus is to reduce the cost by looking for construction inefficiencies we can correct."

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Will Hofmann is the Growth and Development Reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Got a tip? Email him at WHofmann@citizentimes.com. Please help support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: NCDOT: I-26 Connector Asheville contract 'the largest' in NC history