Award of a $663,330 contract for a major road construction project that will provide the final paved link on Route 3 across the Navajo Indian Reservation in Arizona was announced today by the Department of the Interior.
Route 3 is the connecting road between Highway 666 in New Mexico and Highway 89 in Arizona.
The contract is the first to be awarded under special legislation enacted last year which authorized appropriation of an additional $20,000,000 for road construction on the Navajo Reservation. This contract covers widening and paving 28.7 miles of Route 3 between Dinnebito Wash and Coal Mine Mesa.
The road will be built to State highway secondary standards specified by the Arizona Highway Department and will eventually be incorporated into the State system for maintenance.
The successful bidder was Northwestern Engineering Company of Denver, Colorado. Fourteen other bids were received ranging from $676,427 to $1,257,136.
The Department also indicated that surveys have been completed and bids will be invited in the near future by the Gallup (New Mexico) Area Office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs on portions of another road covered by the special authorizing legislation. This is Route 1 which will ultimately be a paved highway from Tuba City and Route 89 in Arizona through the oil-rich "four corners" area to Highway 666 near Shiprock, New Mexico.
Like Route 3, this will be improved with Federal funds to State highway standards and then taken over by the State of Arizona for maintenance.
