For months, the Lincoln Street Reconstruction Project has been inching closer and closer to reality.

On Wednesday afternoon, the project’s letting process began. Even though the results will remain unofficial until Friday, the opening of the bids by the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) has moved the project into another phase of materiality.

According to Street Commissioner Mark Klosterkemper, INDOT will review the bids to make sure everything is in order and that the math calculations are correct.

The winning bid came from contractor Dave O'Mara out of North Vernon, for the price of $6,439,765.48

Other included Beatty out of Boggstown for $6,932,427.09, Gradex out of Indianapolis for $7,137,549.84, Milestone out of Columbus for $7,827,206.15, and John R. Jurgensen out of Cincinnati for $8,498,360.88.

The original “engineer’s estimate” suggested that the price would be about $7,655,000. The unofficial winning bid came in $1,215,234.52 lower than the engineer’s estimate.

Most of the time, the unofficial results will not change, Klosterkemper explained.

The next step will be the official announcement on Friday. Following that, INDOT will invoice the city for the payment, at which point Greensburg has 30 days to respond and make the payment. After that, INDOT will issue a notice to proceed to the winning contractor. Designs and construction plans will begin.

Klosterkemper noted that the project has certainly hit the ground running and was ahead of the game, largely due to the fact the relocation of the utility poles had already commenced.

An exact timeline for the next phase of the Lincoln Street Reconstruction Project remains uncertain, but as work continues out on Lincoln Street, progress is becoming increasingly visible.

“We’re trying to keep it moving as quickly as possible,” Klosterkemper said.