Round Rock officials take first step to rebid Heritage Trail West project following contractor bankruptcy

Round Rock officials took the first step in the process to rebid the Heritage Trail West project following bankruptcy of the original contractor during an Aug. 25 meeting.

City Council approved a resolution to rebid the project via competitive sealed proposal. This method will allow the city to select its next contractor for the project based on experience, financials and company history, among other factors.

Parks and Recreation Director Rick Atkins said the rebidding of this project will require the contractor selected to take over liability for the project, which he said is 20%-25% complete.

Currently, Halff Associates Inc. is engaged in an engineering contract to survey the existing project and determine its status, Atkins said during the Aug. 23 packet briefing.

"If we thought we really could just say, 'Hey, here's a lot of money; go do this; just give us a project,' and walk away from it, we would do that," Atkins said. "But I think with just the way that prices have gone, we've got to be able to look at the pricing that we're going to have."

Atkins said the city’s goal is to have the project rebid by the end of the year, with work starting after Jan. 1.

Once completed, Heritage Trail West will feature 10-foot-wide paved trails spanning from Bathing Beach at Chisholm Trail Road to Georgetown Street, detailing the history of Round Rock as a timeline, according to city documents. The project includes improvements to be made to Bathing Beach Park, Chisholm Trail Crossing Park and Memorial Park.