The Nevada Department of Transportation officially awarded Ames Construction a $69 million contract to lay down the first piece of the Carson freeway connecting four bridges between Lakeview Hill and Highway 50, officials announced Friday.
The Salt Lake City contractor is expected to start work in late October, said transportation spokesman Scott Magruder. The contract, the largest in Northern Nevada history for the state transportation agency, was awarded after a protest filed by the second-lowest bidder was reviewed and denied.
Road & Highway Builders of Reno, who submitted a bid for $70.7 million, filed a protest claiming the bid submitted by Ames Construction misinterpreted federal regulation, but the agency's legal staff found the bid met requirements.
"We evaluated the protest and went over all the information and decided to award it to the low bidder," Magruder said.
Ames Construction will be given a notice to proceed within two months, Magruder said. Work is expected to start at the end of October. The company has 575 working days to complete the project, which equates to just under three years.
A southern portion of the freeway from Highway 50 to a southern interchange at Highway 50 and Highway 395 will follow.
