Maine’s Department of Transportation will significantly cut back on construction work this season, because bids are coming in at as much as double what the agency budgeted.
Maine DOT revealed on Tuesday it is pulling the plug on three big summer projects, including improvements at a major intersection on the Portland peninsula. Commissioner Bruce Van Note says the agency had already built a 10 percent cushion into its $400 million capital budget.
“I mean we’d seen things in the 20 percent range. But then we started seeing 50 percent, 60 percent, 90 percent, even a 100 percent bids over our estimates,” he says.
Observers say Maine’s public infrastructure costs are being driven by several trends: demand from private-sector developers in southern Maine and greater Boston, rising steel and fuel prices and a lack of skilled workers.
“We’ve had growth coming out of recession that we just didn’t have all the folks we needed to meet that demand,” says Matt Marks, executive director of the Associated General Contractors of Maine.
DOT commissioner Van Note says he is hoping the cost hikes will level off.
“We need to fit 10 pounds of sausage in a five-pound bag, so project deferrals are necessary,” he says.
Van Note says the agency will announce delays for more projects next week — cutting work back enough to cover overall inflation in road and bridge expenses of 30 percent over estimates.