With six competitive contractor bids in hand, the city of St. Paul plans to begin construction later this summer on the Robert Piram Trail, a key bicycle and pedestrian corridor that will fill several gaps in the regional trail system.

Eagan-based Max Steininger recently submitted the apparent low bid of $8.397 million to build the 3.7-mile trail, which will connect Harriet Island and Lilydale Regional Park to other trails in St. Paul and to the Kaposia Landing Park in South St. Paul.

Less than $100,000 separated Steininger from the next-lowest bidder, LS Black Contractors, which proposed to build the trail for $8.49 million. Four other bids ranged from $8.58 million to $10.45 million, according to city documents.

“The bid numbers came in where we wanted them,” said Anne Gardner, project manager for the Robert Piram Trail project and a landscape architect with the city.

A joint effort of the city of St. Paul and Dakota County, the project has a total budget of $11 million, including $8.3 million for construction and up to $2.7 million for soft costs and land acquisition.

Construction is expected to begin in late July or August after the construction contract is awarded, Gardner said. The project will be complete by spring 2021, though the bulk of the work will be finished by fall 2020, she said.

Project supporters tapped into local, state and federal dollars, including funds from the Minnesota Legacy Amendment. For fiscal year 2019, the project was awarded $550,000 in Legacy Amendment money for design, engineering and other project costs.

Clare Cloyd, public relations and marketing manager for St. Paul Parks and Recreation, said the Legacy money makes it possible for projects with a “regional impact,” like the Robert Piram Trail, to proceed.

Formerly known as the Harriet Island to South St. Paul Regional Trail, the Robert Piram Trail will become part of the Mississippi River Trail, which stretches from Itasca State Park in Minnesota and to the Gulf of Mexico.

One of the existing gaps to be filled is along Lilydale Road in Lilydale, where users of the Big River Regional Trail and the River to River Greenway Trail have to navigate a “curved street with poor sight distances” to Lilydale Regional Park Trail, according to project memorandum.

Other existing gaps are along Plato Boulevard between Harriet Island Regional Park and Lafayette Road, and in the stretch between South St. Paul’s Kaposia Landing Park and the intersection of Plato Boulevard and Lafayette Road.

The trail is named after the late Robert Piram, a longtime Parks and Recreation director for the city of St. Paul. Piram was credited with expanding the city’s recreational and environmental programs, among other accomplishments.

The project design team includes TKDA, Hoisington Koegler Group, 106 Group, HTPO, Anderson Engineering and Braun Intertec.