TRENTON — The state is moving ahead with a plan to close the Petty's Run archaeological dig behind the Statehouse, soliciting bids for the $410,434 job of filling the excavation site.

The project was advertised for bids May 27, and companies can bid for the job until June 21.

Depending on construction schedules and the bids received, construction could start as soon as July.

“We anticipate we’ll be filling this hole this summer,” said Larry Ragonese, a spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).

Citing cost overruns and tight state finances, a state commission voted last year to close the Petty’s Run site and halt work on the $87 million Capital State Park Project, which would have encompassed the dig. The work on Petty’s Run alone was expected to cost $10 million.

Archaeologists have unearthed artifacts and industrial remains from the site, once the location of steel, cotton and paper mills dating back to 1731. The factories drew power from Petty’s Run, a small creek that was ultimately buried underground.

Local legislators and Trenton boosters have fought to preserve the dig, calling it a wealth of history and a potential tourist draw for the city. Toward that effort, Mercer representatives have sponsored bills in the state Legislature forbidding the state from covering the site. The bills have yet to be passed and would ultimately have to be signed by the governor.

Assemblywoman Bonnie Watson Coleman, D-Ewing, last month assailed DEP Commissioner Bob Martin over the decision to cover and fill Petty’s Run. Yesterday, she called the decision “foolhardy.”

“It would be a much better use of taxpayer money to apply this $400,000 to preserve the site, rather than to undo the work that has already taken place and bury Petty’s Run indefinitely,” she said in a statement.

“Filling in this site would not only mean throwing away a significant amount of money, but it would literally equate to burying history.”

Ragonese said the filling job would be done in a responsible manner. The site would be sealed and preserved for future archaeologists who may want to resume the dig.

“The bid we put out and the work to be done is to have the fill done in a historically proper fashion, not just have some backhoe come in and put some dirt in there,” he said. “If in the future anybody wants to get in there again it will be much better preserved.”

Contact Erin Duffy at eduffy@njtimes.com or (609) 989-5723

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