Movement anticipated on Virginia Creeper Trail bathroom project

ABINGDON, Va. – More than four years after the start of a project to build bathrooms along the Virginia Creeper Trail, the town is almost ready to award a bid for construction of the project’s first phase.

Town officials blame the slow progress on a bureaucratic process required by the state and federal agencies providing the funding.

“The funding has been in place,” said Town Manager Greg Kelly. “The holdup has been getting the appropriate governmental entities that are providing us with the funds to approve the project and allow us to tap into that funding.”

The low bidder on the project backed out, explained Kevin Worley, director of parks and recreation for the town, and the second lowest bidder is being evaluated by the Virginia Department of Transportation to make sure it meets requirements.

At issue is whether a subcontractor qualifies as a disadvantaged business enterprise for federal funding purposes; the subcontractor has already met state diversity requirements and is awaiting paperwork on the certification.

“The one that we’re working with has applied for the renewal of their certification, but the problem is it’s backlogged in the state, some state office somewhere,” said Worley. “We’re waiting for them to send us official certification that this one contractor meets all of the requirements.”

He said that if the contractor meets the requirements, he can be awarded the job; however, the Virginia Department of Transportation, which is handling the project at the state level, is also evaluating the other four bidders to see if they qualify. He said all the bids are below the engineer’s estimate of $261,832.

If none of the bidders meets the diversity requirements, the project would have to be rebid, Worley said.

The project involves construction of bathrooms on the trail at Alvarado, which is at approximately the halfway point between Abingdon and Damascus.

The facility would include bathrooms and a community meeting room and would be built to look like a scaled-down version of the old Alvarado train station, similar in construction to the Arts Depot in Abingdon.

The bathrooms would also be convenient to the Old Alvarado Station, a small business adjacent to the trail; it would enable the store to also operate as a restaurant to serve trail visitors.

The town already owns the property where the 20-foot by 40-foot building is planned, said Worley, but the project required environmental and historical studies, among other things, to get VDOT approval.

“We’ve followed procedure, and some things just took a long time to get through,” said Worley.

He’s hopeful the project can get under way “very soon.”

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