County Approves Bid To Repair Royal Bridge

​Work to repair a bridge north of Royal will begin immediately after the bid was accepted on Tuesday morning.

Road boss Casey Dittrich told commissioners that the county received two bids for the project; however, both bids had clerical errors.

With clerical errors the bids were $71,286 from Husker Grading and $120,020 Klabenes Construction.

Dittrich said Husker said he could not complete the project for that bid and asked for it not to be used. Klabenes Construction’s bid used an incorrect figure of calculations of the excavation of pipe.

Once errors were corrected, the bids were for $84,583 from Husker Grading and for $86,630 from Klabenes Construction.

“Because we are doing this in emergency nature, we don’t have time to rebid it. Neither of the bids was disqualified by the way they were bid, so we can move forward.”

Dittrich told the commissioners they had two options — 1. Reject both bids and award the bid to Husker for his intended bid price of $84,583 or 2 — allow Husker to his pull his bid of $71,286 and accept Klabenes Construction’s bid of $120,020 with a change order that changed the unit instead $86,630

Antelope County Joe Abler was present and said he was consulted on he two options, and either option was legal.

Commissioners voted to approve Option 2 and give the bid to Klabenes Construction.
Dittrich asked Matt Klabenes if the work would still begin on time, which was Monday, Nov. 20, since culverts may not arrive until early December.

“That’s why I’m here today. You’re talking next Monday,” Klabenes said.

The bridge was struck in early July by Nick Carlson of Osmond, according to Antelope County Sheriff Chief Deputy Dan Hallock. Carlson was northbound on 519th Road when he struck the bridge railing with a 2017 Dodge Ram 5500 service pickup.

Carlson was cited for leaving the scene of an accident.
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Hallock said the truck rode the railing until the vehicle corrected onto the gravel road, causing about $6,000 worth of damage to the vehicle and an unknown amount of damage to the bridge. Carlson was uninjured in the accident.

Carlson, who was the only occupant in the vehicle, was located and cited for leaving the scene of a property damage accident.

While the bridge is currently in service, the Antelope County Road Department will look at it closer on Monday. Motorists are asked to use caution on the bridge at this time.