A state paving project that would have gone from downtown Hoquiam into Aberdeen almost to the Wishkah River Bridge this summer will have to wait until at least next spring as the State Department of Transportation has rejected the lone bid for the project, which came in at almost double the estimated cost.

That will also delay a sidewalk project the City of Hoquiam planned along Simpson Avenue, Hoquiam City Administrator Brian Shay told the City Council on Monday.

“The Hoquiam paving project from 5th Street (in Hoquiam) to South H Street (in Aberdeen) received only one successful bidder and it was 88% over our engineer’s estimate,” said Department of Transportation spokeswoman Christina Werner. “For these reasons, the bid was rejected and we plan to re-advertise the contract again in the fall with hopes of a more successful outcome.”

Construction was originally scheduled for last summer but was delayed by the Department of Transportation, said Shay. The Department of Transportation didn’t call for bids for the project until last June, and the one bid that was received came in at around $8 million; the estimated cost of the project was $4 million, said Shay.

“Because we want to be good stewards of the taxpayer dollars we do have, we felt the most responsible decision was to advertise the contract again come fall, with construction beginning in spring/summer 2020 timeframe,” said Werner.

The timing of the request for bids was likely the major factor in this delay, said Shay.

“The bid opening was in June,” said Shay, when contractors typically have their summer construction projects already lined out. The plan is now to do another request for bids on the project later this year and plan to begin the project in the spring, said Shay.

The city is teaming with the Department of Transportation to get the sidewalk improvements because it “makes sense for one contractor to do all the concrete work,” said Shay.

The City of Hoquiam will replace the sidewalks where needed on both sides of Simpson Avenue from the bridge to Myrtle Street. Werner said the city “is contributing funding for the ADA work,” the installation of ADA compliant ramps along the sidewalks.

There is $500,000 in the city’s 2019-20 budget for the sidewalks project.