Work on more than half of the U.S. 301 toll road is expected to get started as the calendar flips to 2016.
DelDOT officials say they expect to begin construction in January, pending final approval on the financial side.
“We are still reviewing the apparent low bidder at this point. We’re moving forward in parallel with the financing package and we’re still on schedule. We have to go to the due diligence of our toll bonds next, but we’re still hoping to wrap all that up this month,” said Transportation Sec. Jennifer Cohan.
Bids for the two main portions of the project total $163.6 million combined – about $12 million over an internal engineering estimate, though still within the agency's budget.
DelDOT still has to finalize bond sales for the toll project and a federal loan that was approved in August.
Cohan says even if there is a hiccup that delays breaking ground, it won’t be significant.
“The good thing, again, is we were doing a lot of things in parallel, a lot of the soil sampling and things like that so we’ll be ready to go in January once the financing package is in place,” she said.
Requests for bids on the remaining four portions of the project will be sent out by January.
The more than $400 million project will eventually connect the existing U.S. 301 highway with S-R 1, creating a more seamless route with the I-95 corridor.
Officials expect to charge passenger vehicles $4.00 per trip and $11.00 for tractor-trailers.
Should construction remain on schedule, the road will open to drivers December 2018.
