By JIMMY LAWTON

OGDENSBURG – Marcy Excavating Services, Frankfort, submitted the lowest bid for the Ogdensburg Bridge & Port Authorities airport expansion project.

Marcy Excavating bid the job at $15,882,976.25. Bids were opened this afternoon.

OBPA had estimated the work at $15 million.

Also included in the bids were two alternatives for the parking lot and gas line. Bids for those projects were $1,317,874.70 and $350,000 respectively.

The high bidder was Sealand Contractors with a bid of $21,085,00.55. Their bids on the alternate projects were $1.690,000.20 and $247,000.

The second low bid came from Kubricky Construction Corp at $17,121,618.76. Kubricky also bid $1,276,535.10 on the parking lot alternative, but did not bid on the gas line relocation.

OBPA's engineer will evaluate the bids and have a recommendation for the OBPA Board's approval on Friday at 8 a.m.

The airport improvement project will expand the runway and allow 177-passenger planes to land in and fly out of the city. Initially flights will be from Allegiant Air, an airline which invested $1 million in the expansion project.

The plan calls for a 1,200-foot expansion of the airport’s runway and involves moving a portion of Route 68. Davis said there have been endless hurtles for the project, but nearly all have been cleared.

OBPA Executive Director Wade Davis said the project is ambitious as the OBPA is attempting to complete a 10-year project in a two-year timeline.

According to Davis the expansion will bring an estimated 38,000 visitors to the city annually and will account for millions of dollars in economic impact.

The project will be 95 percent funded by the Federal Aviation Administration with the Department of Transportation and OBPA each supplying 2.5 percent.

Davis said an additional $3 million from the OBPA will be used for a 3,600 square foot terminal expansion, which will be necessary in order to accommodate the larger volume of passengers. Additionally the OBPA will install a 478-space parking lot.