As building materials prices continue to rise so, too, do estimates on how much county building projects will cost.
By WILL VAN SANT, Times Staff Writer
Published November 2, 2005
CLEARWATER - Rising prices for concrete and asphalt will make Pinellas County's major construction projects much costlier than expected, officials said Tuesday.
Pinellas administrator Steve Spratt estimates that if costs continue to rise the county will be short $60-million for projects scheduled to be finished between now and 2010.
He said hikes in material costs over the past 18 months have been unlike any he has seen in 29 years in government.
"We build bridges, we build roads, we are not talking about building tot lots," Spratt said. "When you have these kind of material costs that are clobbering us, you really end up with some big challenges."
Hundreds of capital projects the county hopes to complete between now and the end of the decade could be affected, including upgrades to court facilities and the county jail, repairs to bridges that link the Pinellas peninsula to the barrier beaches and a range of road improvements.
Ken Hartmann, a former District 7 secretary for the Florida Department of Transportation, recently took a vice president's job with HDR Engineering Inc., which does work for the county. Hartmann presented the commission with some bleak numbers:
Between 2003 and this year, Hartmann told the board, a cubic yard of structural concrete climbed in price from $551 to $712, a 29 percent increase. Asphalt rose from $56 a ton to $75, an increase of 34 percent. The cost of steel and earthwork also has risen.
Hartmann said he could not name a single culprit, but attributed the jumps to a confluence of rising fuel costs, material shortages and the state's building frenzy.
Also, he said, with many workers involved in debris removal and rebuilding in hurricane-ravaged regions, available workers have been in short supply.
Peter Yauch, the county's director of transportation, agreed that competition for labor is intense and said evidence could be found in the smaller number of firms bidding for county projects.
Normally, the county prefers at least three bids for a job to ensure competition. But when bids were opened in August to repair the Dunedin Causeway, only one firm bid, at $3.3-million. Engineers had estimated the work at $1.8-million.
When the county opened bids for repairs to the Fort De Soto Bay Pier in September, the job was estimated to cost $500,000. Two bids were received, one for $766,000, the other for $998,000.
Municipalities also are getting slammed by rising prices. Clearwater officials thought $15-million was a reasonable price for their Beach Walk redevelopment. The two bids made in August were $25-million and $27-million.
The commission discussed in detail one major project yet to be bid, replacement of the Belleair Beach Causeway Bridge. Earlier this year, consultants put the cost at $34-million. With design plans 90 percent completed this month, the price has risen to just more than $50-million.
If a boat ramp is included, the construction cost will rise to $53.5-million. Design and contingency costs could bring the bridge's total price to more than $70-million.
The county will begin taking bids on the bridge project in June. Construction is estimated to take two years.
Spratt said he would strive to keep the project and others that have been in the works on schedule. He said the situation could improve if county revenues climb in coming years. Construction material prices also could fall.
While there are no plans to abandon any projects, Spratt said he will have to take a rigorous look at Pinellas' capital improvement program to identify those that can wait and those that must move forward.
"We have to make sure that the most important projects get funded," he said. "You basically shuffle the dollars to the priorities."
