Councilors: Time to Re-Think Concord Main Street Project

As the old Herman’s Hermits song, “Henery the Eighth, I Am,” used to go, “second verse, same as the first,” so goes Concord's Complete Streets Main Street project on Jan. 24, when officials opened the single bid it received in its second request for bids and found that it was way over budget.

For the project, the city had been hoping to receive bids in the $7 million range that will be partially funded by a $4.7 million federal grant. Last year, it received a $12.2 million bid; last week, the new bids, offered by E.T. Swett Inc. of Concord, were much higher, according to councilors.

To perform the basic construction work at night, Swett said it would cost around $13.8 million. If done in the day, something the council and business owners don’t want, it would be about $12.6 million. To construct the basic street designs and some of the add-ons, including a snow melt system, banners, light poles, and other items, all done at night, Swett would want $16.2 million. If the work were performed during the day, it would be around $14.8 million.

None of these costs include money for the public relations firm that's been retained to guide the community, shoppers, and businesses through the project, the consultants themselves, or the $2.5 million estimated cost of burying power lines on South Main Street, which bring the project's total cost to between $16 million and $19.5 million.

These costs are just for the initial construction and don't include the estimated $16 million in maintenance costs during the first 20 years of life of the new redesign. 

The project was slated to start in March and now, appears to be completely up in the air, with Concord City Councilors saying it’s time to step back and take another look at the aspects of the project and its overall costs.

At-Large City Councilor Mark Coen said he had a lot of questions about the process such as how the bids were being presented to contractors and the low estimates being floated by consultants for the projects.

“To me, it seems like there is a flaw in the process with our consultant,” he said.

Coen added that it might be time to start “peeling away” some of the more cosmetic parts of the project like moving the historic clock from Eagle Square, the construction of fountains and pocket parks, and instead, focus on the important parts of the project. For him, that would be Americans with Disabilities Act accessibility compliance for the western side of the street and storefronts, the basic street redesign from four to three lanes, and heated sidewalks, which Coen believes will be “an economic generator” for the downtown.

“That’s the core,” he said. “You get those done, then you can look at the polished granite planters.”

Ward 10 City Councilor Dan St. Hilaire agreed.

“The bid received in this latest round was disappointing,” he said in an email. “At this point, we need to revisit the consultant's cost estimate for the project and determine why the gap is so large. The city should take some time to consider any options to reduce the estimated cost for the Main Street project.”

Ward 1 City Councilor Brent Todd said he was “surprised” by the second round bid but added that he was “confident our city staff will be investigating the specifics of this lone proposal” while working with the consultants “to see whether any clues can be determined as to why it is so high.”

“I hope that we can find a way to at least salvage certain elements of the project,” he said in an email. “It would be a shame to scrap it entirely, as so much time and effort has been devoted to it these last few years.”

Ward 2 City Councilor Allan Herschlag, who has written frequently about the project, said it gives everyone the opportunity to have more input.

“While it’s certainly disappointing for those who supported the project that the bid came in even higher than the previous bid last year, this gives Concord the chance to go back and do this project in a manner that makes sense for everyone,” he said in an interview. “From the initial acceptance of the Re-Thinking Main Street report, the community has been promised that nothing would happen without their input. Now that it appears that the city will not be accepting the latest bid, this gives the community the chance to have input before the project moves forward again.”

Byron Champlin, the councilor from Ward 4, said he too would like to see more analysis to understand why the estimates are so much lower than the bids.

“I think we need to take a hard look at our cost assumptions and compare them to the estimates we've received from the two contractors to learn why there is such a gulf between the anticipated cost of the project and the bids received,” he said in an email. “Then, I hope we revisit the scope and components of the project to determine how we can move forward.”

Other city councilors either hadn’t heard about the new bids or didn’t respond to an email request for comment.