Cottage Grove delegates $13.1M 80th Street/Highway 61 contract award pending MnDOT civil-rights review
April 03, 2026 | Cottage Grove, Washington County, Minnesota
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The Cottage Grove City Council on April 1 authorized staff to delegate contract award for the 80th Street/Highway 61 interchange rehabilitation project to Park Construction pending final federal and MnDOT Office of Civil Rights approvals.
City engineer Paul Sponholtz told the council the project stretches along 80th Street and East Point Douglas and includes work tied to MnDOT's Highway 61 interchange. He said the city advertised bids in February and opened them March 17; Park Construction was the apparent low bidder at about $13,100,000, roughly 2.3% below the engineer's estimate. Sponholtz said the anticipated construction window is late April through November, weather permitting, and he encouraged the public to sign up for project email updates on the city's project website.
Sponholtz described the project as a three‑party cost share: the city's portion is roughly $8.8 million, MnDOT's portion about $3.7 million and Washington County roughly $3.5 million as shown in the bid summary. Because the project uses federal funds, MnDOT's Office of Civil Rights must review contractor documents and confirm disadvantaged business enterprise and workforce goals; Sponholtz asked the council to authorize the city administrator to execute the award once those approvals are in place.
Councilmember Olson moved to adopt Resolution 2026-059 authorizing the city administrator to award the contract to Park Construction Company for a project cost stated in the resolution as $13,125,468, contingent on MnDOT OCR approval. Councilmember Claussen seconded; the motion carried by voice vote.
The resolution and staff comments make the award contingent on outstanding federal compliance steps, and the council did not record a roll-call vote tally in the public transcript.
What happens next: staff will wait for MnDOT OCR concurrence on contractor documents and then the city administrator is authorized to finalize the award and begin pre-construction coordination.
City engineer Paul Sponholtz told the council the project stretches along 80th Street and East Point Douglas and includes work tied to MnDOT's Highway 61 interchange. He said the city advertised bids in February and opened them March 17; Park Construction was the apparent low bidder at about $13,100,000, roughly 2.3% below the engineer's estimate. Sponholtz said the anticipated construction window is late April through November, weather permitting, and he encouraged the public to sign up for project email updates on the city's project website.
Sponholtz described the project as a three‑party cost share: the city's portion is roughly $8.8 million, MnDOT's portion about $3.7 million and Washington County roughly $3.5 million as shown in the bid summary. Because the project uses federal funds, MnDOT's Office of Civil Rights must review contractor documents and confirm disadvantaged business enterprise and workforce goals; Sponholtz asked the council to authorize the city administrator to execute the award once those approvals are in place.
Councilmember Olson moved to adopt Resolution 2026-059 authorizing the city administrator to award the contract to Park Construction Company for a project cost stated in the resolution as $13,125,468, contingent on MnDOT OCR approval. Councilmember Claussen seconded; the motion carried by voice vote.
The resolution and staff comments make the award contingent on outstanding federal compliance steps, and the council did not record a roll-call vote tally in the public transcript.
What happens next: staff will wait for MnDOT OCR concurrence on contractor documents and then the city administrator is authorized to finalize the award and begin pre-construction coordination.
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