VIDALIA — The apparent low bid for the next phase of work at the Vidalia Port came in this week at approximately $2.15 million.

The $2,155,755.85 bid by Womack and Sons Construction of Harrisonburg was one of seven submitted to the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development to complete the extension of an access road and truck turnaround at the port site.

The next closest bid was for approximately $2.9 million, while the high bid of approximately $6 million far exceeded the Womack estimate.

The LaDOTD will have to make a recommendation to accept the bid before the work can move forward, Port Director Wyly Gilfoil said, and the recommendation will come after DOTD reviews all of the submissions to ensure the low bid meets all of the project’s requirements.

“Once they have been through it, they will make a recommendation and we will have to forward that recommendation along with copies of the bid documents to facility planning with (Louisiana) capital outlay as well,” Gilfoil said.

“As soon as everybody has approved everything and we are ready to award the contract, we would have a pre-construction meeting with the contractor and he would indicate when he would begin.”

Gilfoil said that could happen within 30 days, with the total scope of work taking between 90 and 100 working days.

The new construction for the port project has to be approved by several agencies because it has funding through the state’s capital outlay program and through the Delta Regional Authority, Gilfoil said.

Vidalia Mayor Hyram Copeland said city officials are “very well satisfied” with the bid submissions.

“We are looking forward to the DOTD getting back to us very quickly so we can get construction under way,” he said. “We are very excited about it. By the time we finish that phase, we will have hopefully accumulated some more federal or state funds and continue construction from there.”

Having truck access to the site of the future slackwater port area will be helpful in recruiting future industry to the area, Copeland said.

The port area is near the second Vidalia industrial park.

The push for the port began nearly two decades ago, and is being funded through state and federal sources.

While the slackwater slip on the Vidalia side of the river will operate independently of the Natchez-Adams County Port Commission and has its own port board, Copeland has said he hopes to one day see the area become a river shipping hub under a unified port authority.