Mathiowetz gets Highway 14 bid

By RON LARSEN

Journal Staff Writer

LEAVENWORTH -- For a relatively small company, Mathiowetz Construction Co. is making big waves in highway construction work.

The Leavenworth-based firm has been awarded a $34,263,131 contract to reconstruct U.S. Highway 14 between Janesville and Waseca into a four-lane road.

The amount of the firm's bid was the real show-stopper.

It appeared to be nearly $25 million below Minnesota Department of Transportation District 7 engineers' estimate of $58 million for building two additional lanes along the 9.8-mile segment from Smiths Mill, west of Janesville, to the outskirts of Waseca.

"Reports that it was $25 million below engineers' estimate were misleading because design, engineering and related costs needed to be subtracted. The engineers' estimate for actual construction was in the low 40s, and Mathiowetz' bid was below that so we're very thrilled," said Rebecca Arndt, MnDOT District 7 information officer.

The Highway 14 project was one of the first two road projects to be let for bid from Gov. Tim Pawlenty's list of 12 accelerated road construction projects. The other project let was the first stage of reconstructing the I-694 and I-35E interchange in the east Metro area.

These accelerated projects are being funded from the governor's $900 million Transportation Finance Bill passed by the Legislature last year.

"Our people did a great job of having design and right-of-way issues resolved so that this segment was ready so that it could be first," Arndt said.

The timing was perfect for Mathiowetz Construction as the firm had just finished last fall the 4.8-mile segment from the intersection of Highway 60, just east of Eagle Lake to near Smiths Mill. So, the new contract gives the firm continued Highway 14 work through 2006.

"Highway 14 has waited way too long. That's why we're really hoping the money that was budgeted for this project and now is not going to be needed moved into the next piece," said Brian Mathiowetz, president of the 80-year-old company.

It appears that MnDOT and Mathiowetz are on the same page in that regard.

"We're hoping that if the (additional) funding is available, and I emphasis that, work on the Waseca by-pass and Waseca to Owatonna segment (now scheduled for a 2010-2014 start) can be moved up to 2007," Arndt said.

District 7's pattern of designating $10-$12 million from district construction funds for Highway 14 expansion work should continue if the funds remain available, she said.

"If we're able to get additional funds like the $32 million in federal funds that's being considered now, we should be able to meet that 2007 start, also," she said.

That's music to Mathiowetz' ears because it would potentially give the firm Highway 14 work through the year 2010 if it were the low bidder on that segment. Not only that but it would also make the Sleepy Eye-area firm the builder of record for the entire four-lane segment from North Mankato to the interchange at Owatonna.

Mathiowetz Construction also would be in position to impact the cost of the expansion project across the board.

The firm got the contract for the Eagle Lake-Smith's Mill segment with a bid of $13.4 million. A soil problem discovered only after construction started added another $4 million. Still, the firm came in several million below MnDOT engineers' estimate for that segment. So, when the latest segment is finished, the firm will have done both segments for $50 million.

How is that possible?

"Well, we learned a long time ago that when MnDOT puts their estimate together, they're put together so far ahead that they are really, really doing their best shot in the dark, using past averages. Then, they plug in dollars for unforeseen things that they might stumble across so their estimate is a pretty loose number," Mathiowetz explained.

Some may consider it out of the ordinary for a firm like Mathiowetz Construction, located in Leavenworth, to be bidding on major highway projects, but it doesn't faze Mathiowetz.

"We're just a little company, and the jobs just keep getting bigger and bigger. We learned a long time ago that, to keep our people working, we'd either have to jump into the fire or fold our tent."