A $12,000 Bridge to Richland—and a Lesson in Low Bids
Benton County commissioners reject four steel-bridge bids and hire the Coast Bridge Company to replace the Yakima River crossing with two Howe-truss spans.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Coast Bridge Company to Build Two Howe-Truss Spans for $12,000.00
The county commissioners Saturday entered into a contract with the Coast Bridge company, of Portland, for the building of a new bridge across the Yakima river between this city and Richland. The contract specifies that the present bridge is to be replaced with two Howe-Truss spans, each 167 feet in length and both 20 feet wide in the clear, for which the company is to receive $12,000. The company is given 30 days in which to assemble materials and 90 days more to complete the bridge.
The contract also provides that in the event the foundations are found to be unsafe or the present abutments undesirable, they are to be rebuilt by the company at cost plus 15 per cent. County Engineer T. J. Wright is to superintend the work.
The board entered into this contract Saturday after having rejected four bids received for the construction of the steel bridge. The bids were as follows: Portland Bridge company, $23,175; Security Bridge company, $22,000 and $18,500; Illinois Bridge company, $24,860; C. L. Graves, $25,000.
“The board entered into this contract Saturday after having rejected four bids received for the construction of the steel bridge.”
The Yakima River crossing was the kind of public work that literally tied Kennewick and Richland together, and the bid fight shows how much local pride and money rode on it. Today the same corridor is a daily commute, a reminder that infrastructure arguments are never just about concrete and steel.
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