Next, I tracked down the bid for the project. There were two rounds of bidding, one in June and one in October. The first time around, WSP had underestimated how much construction on the weigh station would cost — all three bids came in between $3.7 million and $3.8 million, above the $3.2 million the State Patrol had budgeted. In the second round, Washington State Patrol adjusted accordingly, and Skyward landed the deal.
A media release soliciting bidders included further details on the work:
“This project includes construction of a new 3,919-square-foot single story scale house building with prefinished metal panel roofing, CMU (Concrete Masonry Unit) veneer and prefinished vertical metal wall panel exterior, wood trusses, aluminum entrances, interior finishes, doors, casework, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire protection, traffic control, erosion control, paving, and site work for a new inspection pit and demolition and removal of existing scale building.”
In 2012, The Columbian reported that the Ridgefield weigh station was the busiest of five in the state, with 3,000 trucks passing through the scales each day. Another 2,400 trucks are allowed to bypass the scales, and 300 are stopped for a full inspection.
The checkpoint looks for several potential violations from the truckers, from improperly secured cargo to failure to log enough sleep hours. But the most common is overweight violations — depending on the number of axles and their license, trucks can weigh more than 100,000 pounds. Overweight trucks chew up the roadway, causing expensive damage that taxpayers end up covering.
