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Memorandum June 20, 2005 Page 2 . Ramsey County Estimate Discnssion Ramsey County Public Works prepared an estimate for the project which was presented to the council and staff at a worksession in September, 2004. This estimate was based upon preliminary engineering as the final design had not been completed to date. The estimate for roadway related items and ROW acquisition both significantly exceeded the CIP budgets. This fact lead to the Council giving direction to Ramsey County to change the proposed 8 foot trail to a 6 foot concrete walk and 2 foot exposed aggregate edge strip which also reduced the total acquisition area required for the project substantially. This direction was anticipated to reduce the costs for acquisition and retaining walls significantly although it did result in approximately $41,000 in concrete walk costs over the cost of a bituminous trail. Actual Bid Amounts - Watermain The actual bids received by the County for watermain work included approximately $95,000 for dircctly related watermain items (ie pipe, valves, hydrants etc) and $8,500 in overall project fixed costs assigned to the watermain group (construction office, mobilization, traffic control etc.). The URS engineer's estimate for watermain related work prepared in March at the time of bidding was $102,500 which considered the significant inflation seen in construction costs over the past year. The URS engineer's estimate did not include the fixed costs assigned by the County as we did not have access to the overall project engineer's estimate prepared by the County. Therefore, the bid amount for the watermain improvements appears to represent competitive market rates for 2005. Actual Bid Amounts - Roadway The final plans include a six foot wide concrete walk with a two foot wide exposed aggregate strip adjacent to it. The increase in costs between the September estimate by Ramsey County and the bids generally results from the costs of the sidewalk (approximately $41,000 as stated above) and the cost of modular block wall which increased by approximately $13,000 to $48,300 between the estimate and the bid. Based upon discussion with Jim Tolaas of Ramsey County, the wall area was underestimated in September, 2004 therefore the anticipated savings in this item was not realized at the time of bids. . Cost Control Options Discussion Based upon my review of the bids and the project plans prepared by the County, two areas of cost savings are highlighted to reduce the anticipated project costs from the bid amounts. The first area involves the modular block wall areas. We have asked the County construction staff to closely manage the modular wall construction to minimize costs. Each square foot of wall costs approximately $20 in construction and engineering costs therefore wherever sloping may be used in lieu of walls or to shorten wall heights significant cost savings will result to the City. Most of the walls included on the project are located on private property (and will be maintained by those owners after installation) therefore reducing wall areas walls may please some residents while being objectionable to others. The second area involves the concrete sidewalk. The two foot wide concrete edge strip could be eliminated from the project. This would save approximately $20,000 in construction and Ramsey County engineering costs. If Council wishes to implement this option, staff will work with Ramsey County staff to ensure the concrete edge strip is eliminated from the projcct. .