Award of three contracts totaling $1,024,915.10 for road improvement work on the Navajo Indian Reservation in Arizona and in Utah near the "Four Corners" area, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.
The "Four Corners" contract is for the construction of a 574-footsteel and concrete bridge across the San Juan River near Montezuma Creek in southeastern Utah. The bridge will provide a much needed crossing on the San Juan River in the “Four Corners" oil development region. With present facilities it is necessary to travel approximately 150 miles to get from one side of the river to the other. Gardner Construction Company of Glenwood Springs, Colorado, submitted the low and successful bid of $317,175.
A second contract is for construction of a school-access bridge and road section running north from Kayenta Arizona, in the north-central portion of the reservation. The 2.8-mile section, joining a 19-mile road now under contract, will serve an isolated trading center on the reservation where school facilities for approximately 500 children are being developed and maintained. The nearest developed highway providing near direct access is via Tuba City, Arizona, a distance of 75 miles. Successful bidder was Allison & Haney of Albuquerque, New Mexico, with the low bid of $289,965.10.
The third contract, involving construction of 13.8 miles of road on Navajo Route 8, will provide an improved road from U. S. 666 to Chinle and Many Farms, Arizona. Chinle is at the gateway to the Canyon De Chelly National Monument. Navajo Route 8 leads into a vast central portion of the Navajo Reservation in Arizona, an area of more than 2,500 square miles in which there are no existing improved roads. Successful bidder was the Northwestern Engineering Company of Denver, Colorado, with a low bid of $417,775.
