One lone bid was submitted for a culvert replacement near 110th and Locust Avenue northwest of Kalona.

The solo bid was for $185,971.65 from Iowa Bridge and Culvert of Washington. County Engineer Jacob Thorius said, “It was slightly under our estimate of $200,000 for the project. Disappointed we only had one bidder, but I’m fine with it when the bids came in under our estimate.” Work will be done this fall.

Supervisor Bob Yoder said he heard concerns from constituents about the work being conducted during harvest. Thorius said he balances the cost along with timeline on projects, “The only way I can control that is we set stipulations on the project, which increases the price. I liken it to, I can build a house in a day if you’re willing to pay the money. And we can control when this happens, but you have to be willing to pay more money. I’m sorry for the inconvenience. I’m trying to balance it and I realize it’s an inconvenience to the people right in the area, but in the grand scheme of things I think it’s a better use of our money, that’ll have some flexibility in there for the contractors to do the work.”

Work will also include reshaping ditches and some grading of the road. The four supervisors at Tuesday’s meeting approved the bid for the project.