The South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) has opened bids from contractors for additional highway stimulus projects approved by the SCDOT Commission.

South Carolina has been allotted a total of $463 million for highway projects through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009, signed into law by President Barack Obama on Feb. 17.

The latest bids involved safety-related projects. Earlier this year, the SCDOT Commission approved a total of $19 million of Economic Recovery Act funding to support the construction of traffic and safety projects. These projects involve intersection improvements, pavement markings, signal head replacements and other activities.

SCDOT opened bids on May 26 for five contracts for the following to be done in South Carolina:

• New thermoplastic pavement markers to be installed on portions of I-526 in Charleston County, I-26 in Spartanburg County, I-95 in Darlington and Florence counties, and I-20 in Darlington and Lee counties.

• Installation of upgraded signal head lights using LEDs (light-emitting diodes) in various counties of Congressional Districts 3.

For the complete list of projects from the May 26 letting, visit:

http://www.scdot-transfer.org/SCDOTPhotos/May26letting.htm

According to preliminary results, the apparent winning bids for the 5 contracts totaled $1.9 million. This is 29 percent below estimates from SCDOT engineers. SCDOT had estimated the projects at $2.7 million.

In April and May, SCDOT received bids for highway stimulus projects totaling approximately $122 million. The lettings combined will result in more than 150 roads resurfaced, nine new bridges, new interstate highway pavement markers, interstate rehabilitation, intersection improvements and upgraded signal head lights using LEDs.

Additional stimulus projects will be bid on by contractors in June, July and August.

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