MNDOT releases list of bids for Recovery Bill projects (and a note on transparency tools )

Facebook friend Jacob Grippen brought this Commerce and Finance article to our attention: MnDOT announces first bid results for federal stimulus projects. Southern Minnesota projects from the MNDOT pdf:

Location: I-90 – Hwy 74 to Hwy 43 in Winona County
Description: Bituminous overlay
Construction start estimate: May 2009
Apparent low bid: $4,484,583.93
Contractor: Dunn Blacktop Co.
State Project # 8580-154

Location: I-90 – CSAH 1 to Hwy 63 west of Stewartville
Description: Mill and overlay eastbound only
Construction start estimate: May 2009
Apparent low bid: $2,096,319.36
Contractor: Ulland Brothers Inc.
State Project # 5080-152

Location: I-90 Alden to Albert Lea
Description: Concrete overlay eastbound and bituminous overlay westbound
Construction start estimate: May 2009
Apparent low bid: $15,997,537.76
Contractor: Ulland Brothers Inc.
State Project #2481-50

Location: Region-wide District 6 [Rochester/Owatonna]
Description: Guardrail replacement
Construction start estimate: May 2009
Apparent low bid: $1,685,285.76
Contractor: Mattison Contractors Inc.
State project #8826-68

Location: Region-wide District 7 [Mankato/South Central Minnesota]
Description: Install guardrail and end treatments
Construction start estimate: May 2009
Apparent low bid: $481,006.50
Contractor: Highway Technologies Inc.
State project #8827-88

The projects above are only those for which bids have been let.  On its page for Recovery Act-funded projects, MNDOT has posted a List of projects by county (pdf), a Map (PDF) and a list (Word).

We're really happy to see MNDOT post this data online about actual projects funded by the Recovery Bill, since it may help prevent local publishers from rushing to the sorts of judgments like the one David Phillips jumped to in his weekly column in the Spring Grove Herald:

The federal stimulus package is supposed to help America get back on track. A turnaround in the national economy will help Spring Grove, but there are no specific projects targeted for our community or any of the other small cities in southeastern Minnesota, according to a list put together by StimulusWatch.org, which is tracking the "shovel-ready" projects.

As we pointed out in February, Stimuluswatch.org used a report from the U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM draws its membership from the leadership of cities of 30,000 and over) for its dataset. No projects from Mankato and Rochester (the only cities in Southern Minnesota with populations over 30,000) were supplied for the USCM report.

Spring Grove is part of MNDOT Region 6, in which guardrails will be replaced. Will any guardrails be replaced in Houston County? Good question. Will other Recovery bill funds head that way?

Media--old or new--should not confuse the information in stimuluswatch.org with the actual projects MNDOT and other agencies pick for the Recovery Bill dollars. We'll try to post links to southern Minnesota's share of the funding whenever we learn of it.

Photo: I-90  near Albert Lea.