KDOT rejects lone bid for Banner Road extension work

Following the Kansas Depart­ment of Transportation’s rejection of a Topeka firm’s bid for the Ban­ner Road extension project, the City of Holton is back to square one on taking proposals for the project.

The Holton City Commission noted during its Aug. 3 meeting that only one construction company — Bettis Asphalt of Topeka — had bid on the project, which will ex­tend Banner Road west across U.S. Highway 75 into the parking lot of the new Walmart building. Bettis’ bid of $1,987,385 was reluctantly approved by commissioners at that time, it was reported.

KDOT, however, chose to reject the bid, Holton City Manager Bret Bauer said, with the reason being that the bid “wasn’t close to the en­gineer’s estimate” of about $1.2 million for the extension project.

“It’s forced us to have to do this process again,” Bauer said of the new bid notice, which appears on Page 12 of the Monday, Aug. 31 print edition of The Holton Re­corder.

Bauer also noted that Bettis As­phalt officials were not pleased about their bid being the only one received by the city. Commission­ers were also told earlier this month by Holton Street Superintendent Rex Cameron that more than 20 road construction companies had been invited to bid on the project.

If the second bidding period is also unsuccessful in securing a construction company to work on the extension, Bauer said the city would have to meet with KDOT officials to discuss the matter fur­ther. KDOT also “reserves the right to reject any and all bids” for the project, he added.