American Bridge-Kraemer Team Apparent Low Bidder on Wilson Bridge Drawspan
A joint venture of American Bridge Co., Coraopolis, Pa., and Edward Kraemer & Sons Inc., Plain, Wisc., is the apparent low bidder to build the bascule portion of the new Woodrow Wilson bridge across the Potomac River. The American Bridge-Kraemer bid was $185.9 million, or 11% above the Maryland State Highway Administration's $168-million engineers' estimate, but SHA Administrator Parker Williams indicated it was in the acceptable range. After proposals were opened Nov. 7 in Baltimore, he said, "I think we've got a workable bid here."
There was a big gap between the low bid and the second-low proposal, from a team of Cianbro Corp., Pittsfield, Maine, and Weeks Marine Inc., Cranford, N.J. The Cianbro-Weeks bid was $221.3 million, which was $35.4 million, or 19%, higher than American Bridge-Kraemer's.