PIERRE, S.D. (KELO) — Rehabilitating a bridge on US12 in Corson County will cost nearly double what the South Dakota Department of Transportation had estimated.

DOT engineers priced the job at $615,493.90.

But the lower of two bids came in at $1,123,522.92 for the work seven miles west of Mobridge.

The state Transportation Commission has decided to accept the offer from Fort Pierre-based Anderson Contractors.

There clearly was reluctance among commission members. Their chairman, Lynn Jensen of Lake Preston, had to ask twice for a second on the motion to award the work.

This was the second time that the project had been put out for bid. There was a single bid the first time, when it was packaged with a project in southern Ziebach County. That bid was rejected.

Sam Weisgram, the department’s standard- and letting-squad leader, said the projects were split this time in the hope of drawing more bids and a better price. Two businesses submitted bids, but the price was still much more than expected.

“What did we miss?” commissioner Don Roby of Watertown asked.

There was high pricing throughout the bid, according to Weisgram. “There was not one specific part of the bid that made up the difference we see here,” he said, listing the various pieces of work such as deck sealing, new approach slabs and berm improvements. “All of them came in higher than anticipated.”

Another difficulty, Weisgram added, was that no other structures in the nearby area needed the same treatments in the same time frame. He anticipates the structure will last another 20 years after the improvements.

Chairman Jensen said he initially was concerned. “But when I look at the two bids, they were within one percent of each other. There’s a little comfort in that,” he said.

BX Civil & Construction of Dell Rapids submitted an offer of $1,144,566.20.

The commission last week also accepted low bids that were below or near the estimates on five other projects. They include a structure in Grant County, sealing work in six counties in the Mitchell region, pavement markings in three counties in the Pierre region, surface treatment in six counties in the Winner area, and work on routes in Hughes and Potter counties.