Gonzales City Council rejects Tinsley Creek bridge bids

It’s back to the lab again for the city of Gonzales when it comes to replacing five bridges along Tinsley Creek and fixing a low water crossing on Johnson Street — a project which was first budgeted five years ago.

On Thursday, April 17, council members, at the request of engineer J. Keith Schauer of Doucet & Associates Inc., unanimously rejected three bids for replacing bridges at St. Andrew, St. Lawrence, St. Matthew, St. Michael and St. Vincent streets and replacing the low water crossing at Johnson Street with box culverts and elevating the street.

The city had received a $3,778,467 grant from the Texas General Land Office in May 2021 due to historic flooding which occurred on Tinsley Creek during Hurricane Harvey in 2017. At that time, the portion of the Guadalupe River which ran through Gonzales was at 42.1 feet, or more than 11 feet above flood stage of 31 feet. Heavy rainfall shut down portions of US 183, Texas 97 and Farm-to-Market Road 108, while runoff down Tinsely Creek flooded the homes lying in the lowest areas along the creek and covered secondary roads and streets nearby — endangering motorists.

The original project called for replacing the low-water crossing with six culverts at Johnson Street; adding four new culverts between Tinsley Creek and St. Andrew Street; and replacing box culvert crossings with free span bridge crossings at St. Andrew Street, St. Lawrence Street, St. Louis Street, St. Matthew Street, St. Michael Street and St. Vincent Street to allow Tinsley Creek to flow unimpeded through these crossings.

Of that amount, $3,247,125 was available for construction after paying for engineering, environmental clearance and grant administration. The amount awarded had been based on pricing for the project set in 2020 when the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development first approved flood mitigation plans by the city.

The project was finally bid in February 2025 and inflation drove up the cost of construction to previously unanticipated levels, Schauer told the council. The city received three bids, with the lowest being for $6,969,616 by C.E. Barker Ltd. — an amount that is $3,722,491, or 53.4 percent more than the project budget.

“All three bids were substantially over our budget,” Schauer said. “Our budget's about $3.2 million. The low bid was just under $7 million. We originally thought that we would be able to reduce the scope of the work and just reward, you know, a lesser scope to the low bidder, but the GLO has come back and said we can't do that if we're reducing it by more than 25% and that they want us to rebid it.

“That's what we're proposing to do, is that we will reduce the scope and then advertise it for bids next week for rebid. What I would need from council is which projects we want to do.”

Schauer said the two options he suggested the city consider were either doing St. Vincent, St. Michael and St. Matthew streets or doing St. Vincent and St. Michael and fixing the low-water crossing on Johnson Street. Schauer said he thought it would be cheaper to do the first option because the crossings are close together and the contractor would only have to mobilize their equipment one time.

“I think either way, it'll probably come in close to budget,” Schauer said. “It's just that, in talking to the contractors, they're going to do the three bridges so they'll mobilize their drilling contractor to do the drill piers, or mobilize them one time, and they'll spread that cost and mobilization cost across three projects, instead of across two projects.”

The city has until the end of December 2026 to complete the work on the grant funds or face forfeiting them back to the state.

District 4 Councilmember Ronda Miller asked District 2 Councilmember Mariah Jordan what her preference would be since the low-water crossing at Johnson Street is located in Jordan’s district.

“I would go off the recommendation (by Schauer),” Jordan said. “It's cost efficient. We have to go with that. I represent the community, whatever district the project is in.”

Schauer said he would “feel more comfortable” about the three bridges coming within budget on the lower end of Tinsley Creek and hoped the work would open up the flow of the lower end of the creek and perhaps alleviate some of the issues until the other two bridges and Johnson Street could be fixed at a later date.

He said the city will continue to have to close Johnson Street during flooding events until the street can be properly built up with a better crossing.

Mayor Steve Sucher asked if the city could “beef up the signage” at Johnson Street to advise of the low-water crossing during flood events. City Manager Tim Crow said local residents know about the condition of the street and tend to avoid it at those times, but the additional signage would certainly help any visitors who might be in the area and using city streets.