By Keith Inman, Sun Staff Writer, inman@jonesborosun.com

JONESBORO — A plan to widen Caraway Road south of U.S. 63 should get started this year. City officials opened bids Tuesday to replace a two-lane bridge over Higginbottom Creek with a four-lane bridge.

Lakeside Contractors of Jonesboro submitted the apparent low bid of $875,871 for the job.

Also bidding on the project were Seagraves Contruction of Maynard, $1,338,480; and Mobley Contractors of Morrilton, $1,566,025.95.

The city originally sought bids for the project last year, but officials rejected the lone bid of more than $1.3 million.

Craig Light, the city’s chief engineer, said the project was redesigned after that first bid came in so high.

“What we bid out this time was actually a box culvert and taking out that existing bridge,” Light said.

The original plan called for leaving the existing bridge intact and attaching two more lanes to it, he said.

Light said his staff estimated anticipated bids of around $1 million for the redesigned project. He said he couldn’t speculate on why there was such a wide disparity between bids.

Lakeside has the edge in travel. It’s headquarters are on East Parker Road, only about a mile from the job site.

The project wasn’t included in the city’s 2015 capital improvement budget, but Mayor Harold Perrin said earlier this year he believed it needed to move forward.

An estimated 14,000 vehicles per day cross that bridge, and that traffic volume is believed to be growing.

Light said he hopes an appropriation ordinance and approval of a contract with Lakeside can be included on the city council’s April 7 agenda.

The city also plans to widen Caraway Road south of the new bridge to Latourette Drive.