Sandy Springs City Council approved a $20.1 million contract to construct 1.8 miles of the PATH 400 trail in the city.
The city must pay 20 percent of the contract, with federal transportation dollars funding the rest. The City of Atlanta will pay Sandy Springs for the portion of the trail segment constructed within its city limits.
F.S. Scarbrough was awarded the $20,150,923.94 construction contract. The Fayetteville contractor’s bid was $4.2 million less than the next closest bid, with the highest bid reaching $26.4 million.
Council members and Mayor Rusty Paul expressed concern about the disparity of bids with Scarbrough much lower than the other bidders, whose bid amounts were grouped closer together.
TSPLOST Program Manager Allen Johnson said the project has many walls and bridges to construct. Scarbrough has experience building paths and with site work. Johnson thinks the city got good pricing from the company because it is now entering the market for this type of project. Seeing the bid grouping, he said staff thoroughly checked Scarbough’s qualifications and references.
The Path 400 Trail Extension will be a walkable and bikeable trail next to GA 400 extending from Loridans Drive to a point in the southern part of the city inside the Perimeter. It will be the northern segment of the 5.2-mile PATH 400. Sandy Springs eventually will have 2.3 miles of the trail extension built.
The funding available will enable the city to build two sections of the trail extension. A third middle section will be built when funds become available, connecting the first two sections being built under this contract.
The southernmost section extends north from Nancy Creek to Windsor Parkway. The northern section will extend north from Ridgeview Park to north of the Glenridge Connector. It will connect to the multi-use trail constructed in the Georgia Department of Transportation’s Transform 285/400 project.
Sandy Springs will use local transportation sales tax revenue to fund its share of the contract. Johnson said the project should take three years to complete. Once necessary state approval has been received, construction is expected to begin in the fall.
Councilmember Andy Bauman said he hoped the city could place signs or branding so residents could see what was coming.