FRIDAY, September 18, 2026|
Photo – County Road and Bridge Shop – Bigfoot99 file photo
County officials approved a bid to lay 10 miles of gravel on dirt roads near Encampment.
During Tuesday’s Board of Carbon County Commissioners meeting in Baggs, Road and Bridge Director Kandis Fritz announced that she had received two bids for a gravel project on County Roads 660 and 203, also known as Brush Creek Road, both in the Encampment area. She said the material will be split evenly, with each road receiving five miles of gravel.
Fritz said the material suppliers were given an option for the type of gravel offered to the county, W or L. She explained that L gravel is a larger, coarser base layer, while W gravel is finer. The Road and Bridge director said Plattoga Aggregates in Saratoga only provided an estimate for the higher‑grade road base. Knife River Material from Rawlins proposed the lower‑grade gravel, but for roughly half the price of the Saratoga supplier.
Noting the $285,000 difference, Fritz recommended accepting Knife River Material’s bid. She said the remaining funds can be used to pay to haul the gravel to the job sites.
Commissioner John Johnson asked if the different grades of gravel change the road material’s durability. Road and Bridge Director Fritz said she wasn’t certain, but added that W‑grade gravel contains more rock, which isn’t necessarily well suited to the Encampment area.
The Board of Commissioners unanimously voted to approve Knife River Material’s $315,000 gravel bid. The money will come from a dedicated gravel account, with any remaining funds covered by the Road and Bridge budget.
Fritz said the County Road 660 gravel project is scheduled to begin this fall. However, assuming our area experiences a typically snowy winter, she said Brush Creek Road won’t be addressed until next spring.
After the vote, Fritz asked the Board to waive the county’s procurement policy so she could skip the mandated bidding process to select a company to haul the gravel. The Road and Bridge director explained that instead of choosing one firm for the project, she would like to have every local contractor transport road base to the job sites.
The Board voted to waive the procurement policy and allow Road and Bridge Director Fritz to hire as many trucks as possible for a set rate. Fritz encouraged local contractors to participate in the County Road 660 and 203 gravel project.
