The state is getting ready to choose a designer and builder for the $2.1 billion replacement of the Sagamore Bridge.
Within two or three weeks, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation plans to solicit letters of interest, and later, contractors’ qualifications.
The department will assess the contractors’ capabilities and determine which are eligible to move into the bidding stage, said the leader of the project, Luisa Paiewonsky.
“It's the beginning of the process, and it will involve a lot of interaction with the design and construction industry, to make sure they understand what we're looking for,” she said.
Paiewonsky is executive director of the department’s Megaprojects Delivery Office.
In late summer or early fall, the state plans to issue a request for proposals that will result in the actual bids.
Design and construction firms will likely cooperate to bid together, she said.
The Sagamore Bridge is fully funded with a combination of $1.4 billion in federal grants, $350 million from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and $430 million from the state.
Replacement of the Bourne Bridge, at an estimated cost of $2.4 billion, is not yet funded.
On the taking of homes by eminent domain, the state has completed the acquisition of nine of the 13 homes near the Sagamore Bridge, with another two expected to be done in the next week or two.
The number of households the state says will be displaced for the Sagamore Bridge has risen to 17 from a previous 14. The increase reflects properties that have multiple tenants, not any additional homes, Paiewonsky said.
“We provide rental support for them for a period of, I think, 42 months,” she said. “We don't pay their entire rent, but we pay the difference between what they're paying and what the market bears, if they are forced to relocate.”
Some displaced residents have already found homes.
“And some who are frustrated at the eminent domain process have ended up in a place where they are happy with their new homes; they're happy with their settlements,” she said. “Obviously this has been a difficult process for many of the property owners, but we're moving toward resolution on the majority of the properties.”
Several homeowners have condemned the property takings in remarks at public meetings.
“You can see MassDOT in their interviews saying how they care about us, and they know there's a human aspect to it, and they're working with us,” homeowner Marc Hendel said in January. “All of that is wrong. They are not doing any of those things.”
But Paiewonsky said many homeowners have expressed appreciation that department staff are working with them to make the process as easy as possible, given the difficult circumstances.
In May, June, and beyond — but well before the bidding — the state plans to conduct testing near the bridge foundations. The testing involves drilling shafts and driving piles more than 100 feet deep.
The public will be able to hear noise from that process, which is called foundation load testing.
Information from the tests will be provided to bidders to help make their prices as accurate as possible.
The Department of Transportation recently filed the project’s final environmental report with the office that administers the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act. A comparable federal report is still forthcoming.
The reports are part of the permitting processes at the state and federal levels.
For the state report, public comment is open through April 10 at the online portal, or by email or postal mail. The report was published in the March 11 issue of the Environmental Monitor.
