MARSHALL — Reconstruction of South Whitney Street is on the list of city projects planned in Marshall this year. This week, city council members voted to accept a bid of over $1.5 million for construction on the project.

“We received four bids on February 22,” said Marshall Public Works Director Jason Anderson. “All bids were pretty close to each other, within reason.”

Anderson said the low bid came from D&G Excavating of Marshall, at $1.565 million.

“This is below where our engineer’s estimate was for the project,” Anderson said.

The reconstruction project is planned to affect South Whitney Street between East College Drive and Jean Avenue. In January when the project went out for bids, Anderson said the width of the street would stay the same as it is now, at 20 feet. The sidewalk along Whitney street was proposed to be expanded to a width of six feet instead of five. To make room for the sidewalk changes, it was proposed to take a foot off each side of the center median on Whitney Street.

Besides rebuilding Whitney Street and replacing sidewalks, the project would replace utilities like the water mains, sanitary and storm sewers beneath the street. The project would also replace curbs and gutters along Whitney Street.

Anderson said the improvements in the Whitney Street reconstruction would be assessed according to the city’s current special assessment policy. Part of that policy includes participation from Marshall’s wastewater department, the surface water utility fund, and from Marshall Municipal Utilities, he said.

The total estimated cost of the project is a little over $1.9 million, Anderson said. That total includes a 5% allowance for contingencies, and a 16% allowance for engineering and administrative costs.

Council members voted to accept the bid from D&G Excavating, and award them a contract for the project. There was one abstention from the vote by council member James Lozinski.