Rebuilding on U.S. Highway 85 for a mile through Belle Fourche -- a $6.27 million project -- is ready to begin.

The South Dakota Transportation Commission approved the low bid of Upper Plains Contracting of Aberdeen on Nov. 19.

The overall project had been delayed several times by the state because of funding issues. Until the 2010 budget, it was held in the state’s five-year plan for several years.

Work is set to begin as soon as possible, depending on weather conditions.

Belle Fourche Area Engineer Mike Carlson with the DOT said the low bid for rebuilding the highway from two to five lanes was over the current department estimates of $5.3 million.

But, he said, the estimates are only for getting the work done and don’t figure in additional costs of handling traffic and other issues.

“This is a large urban project to be done in one year,” Carlson said.

Carlson earlier told Belle Fourche City officials that a one-year project still would “be a mess,” but it should be completed more quickly than earlier two-year projections for the work.

The need to maintain two lanes of traffic throughout the project will be a problem for the contractor, Carlson said. That likely is why the bid was higher than the department’s estimate for the actual construction work.

The highway project itself will cost slightly more than $5.9 million, but the state added Belle Fourche’s water and sewer project in their bid letting because utility work underneath the highway will have to be coordinated by the general contractor.

The bid was for about $344,000; the most recent estimate for the project had been for slightly more than $380,000.

The city pays the full bill on the water and sewer project and will pay the difference between standard and decorative lighting costs for the downtown section of the project, Belle Fourche City Engineer Terry Wolterstorff said.

The city has held money for the decorative lighting for several years as a carryover fund, so that part of the project had been budgeted. The water and sewer work would come from those “enterprise funds” paid for by users rather than through property taxes.

Carlson has said that the construction plan was to begin at Roundup Street, where significant city utility work would be done.

That section of the project would be scheduled for completion by June, well ahead of the Belle Fourche rodeo season.

Then, work both north to the Belle Fourche River bridge and south to the Hay Creek bridge could continue.

Carlson said there is no detour planned in Belle Fourche because the pavement on potential alternate routes would be damaged by heavy truck traffic.

But he and Wolterstorff said it seems likely most local people would try to take alternate routes north and south through town whenever possible.