Triangle left out of latest NCDOT awards

Triangle Business Journal, July 31, 2009

There won't be any new transportation stimulus love for the Triangle this month.
Gov. Bev Purdue's office said Friday that the North Carolina Department of Transportation had awarded 15 contracts - including seven new stimulus projects - totaling $29.3 million for highway and bridge projects across the state. But none of hte contracts were for work in the Triangle.
The seven recovery projects awarded are located in Anson, Ashe, Avery, Caldwell, Dare, Forsyth and Hyde counties. The eight other projects awarded are in Brunswick, Cherokee, Cumberland, Iredell, McDowell, Pitt, Rowan and Rutherford counties.
Five additional projects were let to contract in July. NCDOT said that four of them will be awarded if the low bidder demonstrates that it has met "good faith effort" requirements in attempting to reach the disadvantaged business enterprise goals set forth in the contracts. None of those projects are in the Triangle, however.
The bids on the fifth project - which is for the resurfacing work in Haywood and Jackson counties - exceeded the NCDOT engineer's estimate by more than 21 percent. The bids were refected, and the project will be rebid at a later date, NCDOT said.
The bids received on all 20 projects advertised came in more than 15 percent - or about $6.5 million - below NCDOT estimates.