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Cincinnati close to awarding streetcar construction contract

Jay Hanselman
/
WVXU

Cincinnati's City manager said Friday the city is close to awarding a contract to build the streetcar project.

Milton Dohoney, Jr. said in a memo the streetcar project has sufficient funding to allow it to proceed.

He said city administrators are in the final stages of discussions with a partnership involving Cincinnati-based Messer Construction and Prus/Delta Railroad JV.

Those companies said they'll need to add $492,933 to the bid they submitted earlier this year, when construction was scheduled to start in April. The additional money covers increased costs for materials and labor resulting from the delay.

The manager said the project budget can support the higher price.

The construction contract was in limbo after bids came in much higher than city officials estimated. But they said re-bidding the work wasn't a viable option, since those could have been even higher.

City Council voted last month to provide an additional $17.4 million for the project and the federal government also granted another $5 million.

The city said there will be no reduction in the scope of the project. The first phase will be a loop running from the riverfront to Over-the-Rhine.