City Council Special Meeting: Brighton Lateral Ditch Crossing Contract Approval - January 13, 2026
City Council Special Meeting: Brighton Lateral Ditch Crossing Contract Approval - January 13, 2026
The City Council held a special meeting on January 13, 2026, at 5:30 PM, to consider and approve a resolution accepting a construction bid for the Brighton Lateral Ditch Crossing at Bridge Street. The sole agenda item was the award of a contract to Brock Lagarda-Loya Construction LLC in the amount of $1,005,265, including a $250,000 contingency. Following staff presentation and council questions, the resolution passed unanimously (9–0).
Discussion Items
- Project Overview: Utilities Director Scott Olson presented the project to replace a portion of an asbestos concrete water line under the Brighton Lateral Ditch with PVC, install a missing section of storm sewer pipe, and complete a concrete trail over the ditch. The work is part of the larger Bridge Street widening project, where the crossing was originally deferred due to complications.
- Bidding and Procurement: Four bids were received; staff recommended the lowest responsive and responsible bid from Brock Lagarda-Loya Construction LLC, a contractor the city has worked with before and was satisfied with.
- Project Details: The contractor will mobilize January 19 (Monday). The outer eastbound lane of Bridge Street will be closed for several weeks (approximately January 19 to March 6), with one eastbound lane remaining open. Westbound lanes are unaffected. The closure is needed for worker safety; minimal asphalt cutting will be fully repaired.
- Council Questions:
- Councilmember Snyder clarified that the $1,005,265 contract amount includes a $250,000 contingency, so the actual construction cost could be lower if no issues arise. Staff confirmed this hope.
- Councilmember Taddeo asked whether the contractor was previously used; staff confirmed a positive history.
- Councilmember Carbajal inquired about the original bridge street project savings that were reclaimed and now fund this crossing. Staff explained that a $500,000 change order from the earlier project was removed, and other savings were returned to the fund to support this work.
- Traffic Impact: Councilmember Collins asked about lane closures; staff clarified only the outer eastbound lane would close, not westbound. The closure will be in place only during daytime construction hours (not 24/7), though the lane remains closed all day. Taper zones will be set up between the Eastgate entrance and the Ataliride turn.
Key Outcomes
- Resolution ID-12-26 was approved by a vote of 9–0 (all council members present voted in favor).
- The contract with Brock Lagarda-Loya Construction LLC for $1,005,265 (including $250,000 contingency) was awarded.
- The City Manager has change order authority up to $100,527 beyond the original contract amount.
- Project construction is scheduled to begin January 19, 2026, with lane closure expected through approximately March 6, 2026.
Meeting Transcript
I'll order our special city council meeting for Tuesday, January thirteenth, twenty twenty-six. And first off, we'll start off with a pledge of allegiance. We'll have Councilmember Carbajal lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. All right, thank you for doing that. Madam City Clerk, please call a roll. Mayor Mills. Here. Mayor Pro Tempadilla. Present. Councilmember Carvajal. Present. Council Member Collins. Present. Councilmember Fidler. Here. Council Member Green. Council Member Snyder. Here. Council Member Tadeo. Present. Council Member Wirth. Here. Great. It's great to have nine people today. Next item is the approval of the regular agenda. Who'd like to entertain a motion? Councilmember Wirth. Thank you, Mayor. I uh uh move to approve today's agenda. Councilmember Green. It's long, but I will second that. We have a proper first and a second to approve the agenda. Roll call vote. Motion passes nine to zero. Next item three A, a resolution of the city council, the city of Brighton, Colorado accepting the proposal of Brock Guard Lagardia Loya Construction LLC for and approving the contract for the Brighton lateral ditch crossing at Bridge Street for the amount of one million five thousand two hundred and sixty-five dollars. City Manager Martinez. That's an irrigation ditch right adjacent to Bridge Street, as the city manager said, where we did the larger Bridge Street roadway widening project. To uh complete that, we are going to be replacing a small portion of the asbestos concrete water line that currently carries potable water under the ditch with a PVC water line. Um when you start working around asbestos concrete um water lines, they are very brittle. Um and by replacing that with PVC, we are going to be reducing the risk of the project. Um and then finally, we are going to install the final concrete uh missing portion of the concrete trail that goes over the Brighton Lateral Ditch. Um as we've discussed several times, the installation of the storm sewer pipe was originally planned as part of that uh larger bridge street widening project. However, there were several complications that didn't allow that to actually take place. Um the utilities department staff worked with the original project design firm to re-evaluate that design. Um we made some changes and actually had two alternatives that allowed for one trenchless method to be used, which is typically also referred to as boring, and also an open cut option so that we could maximize the project's success. So we um asked for bids on both of those alternatives. Uh we then coordinated further with the Brighton Lateral Ditch Company as we had to update our uh crossing agreement with them. Uh so on the screen before you is a kind of a zoomed out project location map, and I'm going to now zoom in to um this red area here on the screen. It's the purple piece of pipe. Um, so as you can see from this pretty updated aerial image, um, this is the eastbound travel lanes of the newly widened bridge street.
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