Cost outlook for Cross Creek work plummets

City officials have halved the projected cost of four-laning the eastern end of Cross Creek Boulevard, to $10-million from $20-million.

“We went back and did it based on present market conditions,” said Jean Dorzback, Tampa’s director of transportation planning. “The market conditions have really changed from what we had.”

The savings mean the city, with $28-million identified for New Tampa road projects, might be able to simultaneously afford the Cross Creek widening and construction of a $20-million bridge spanning I-75 between West Meadows and Tampa Palms.

Only three months ago, Mayor Pam Iorio had launched discussions on whether money earmarked for the bridge should be diverted to Cross Creek.

Road-building costs soared during the housing boom as demand for road work outstripped the resources of the industry. But now, home-building has slowed to a crawl as builders wait for wary buyers to snap up an oversupply of homes for sale. So road builders are hurting for work, and bidding low.

“The bids are actually coming in lower than the estimates,” Dorzback said.

With a financial boost from Hillsborough County, Tampa finished widening Cross Creek’s western and busiest section early last year. Work on the eastern half is scheduled to begin by 2012.

-- Bill Coats, Times Staff Writer

Comments

Why is the wait so long?

[Bill Coats]

Answer: When the city of Tampa accepted $1.4-million in federal funds for this work, that triggered the requirement of a two-year "project development and engineering" study. Last March, Jean Dorzback warned that this could push the start date into 2013. See this story:

http://blogs.tampabay.com/newtampa/2008/03/road-is-much-tr.html

But on Tuesday, she said the date was the 2011-2012 fiscal year.

So the City is finding the costs for the following have dropped?
- concrete (the cost per yard is up 37% since those original estimates)
- asphalt (anyone suprised to see that the cost for petroleum products has sky rocketed?)
- steel (maybe no rebar in this bridge)
- diesel for mobilization machinery (up 65%)

Looks to an outsider that either the City is giving anechdotal information or they jacked up previous estimates to cover potential overruns.

Let's see what others say....

Central Fla Developers Hurt by Rising Building Material Costs

Construction companies, already stung by the end of the commercial building boom, now find themselves contending with higher prices for certain materials -- particularly steel. Development booms in Asia and other emerging foreign markets are pinching supplies to the point that builders in Central Florida are paying double-digit percentage increases for steel-related products -- even as the cost of petroleum-related products continues to rise.

(Source: Orlando Sentinel, 2008-08-04)

Well since the project costs less now, can't the city fund this project entirely themselves and get it done quicker (without the federal study)? Mayor Iorio was able to get the first phase done pretty quickly, so she may be able to do something in this case as well?