MDOT's October letting: 15 contracts, $347.3 million in low bids, and 10 came in over the state estimate

The Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT) read bids for its October letting on Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026, in Jackson. MDOT's checked bid results, posted Oct. 29 and marked unofficial, list 15 calls with 33 bids in all. The apparent low bids add up to $347,282,838.00. The state estimates for the same calls total $323,557,407.07, so the low bids were about 7.3% higher overall.

The October notice listed 16 calls. Call 16, a median barrier project on US 80 in Hinds County, does not appear in the results and is now listed in MDOT's letting feed for Nov. 24.

The biggest contracts

• Call 05, Madison County: adding two lanes to I-55 from SR 463 to Gluckstadt Road. T. L. Wallace Construction of Columbia bid $187,725,441.40, 4.78% over the estimate. Three firms bid.
• Call 04, Warren County: mill and overlay of about 5.8 miles of I-20 from the Mississippi River bridge, with bridge repairs. Hemphill Construction of Florence bid $41,811,513.00, 40.42% over the estimate of $29,777,062.83.
• Call 02, Simpson County: bridge replacements on SR 28 between the Copiah County line and Pinola and over Tanyard Creek. Chris Albritton Construction of Laurel was the only bidder at $27,352,217.61, 7.54% over.
• Call 07, Pearl River County: mill and overlay of about 13.7 miles of I-59. Huey P. Stockstill of Picayune was the only bidder at $23,350,416.40, 8.5% over.
• Call 01, Marshall County: mill and overlay of about 17 miles of I-22. Lehman-Roberts of Memphis bid $17,999,431.79, 4.88% under the estimate, against three other bidders.

Under the estimate

Five calls came in under. The largest gap was Call 03, a slide repair on US 84 in Franklin County, where Midway Construction of Roxie bid $9,310,220.34, 18.14% under the $11,373,015.40 estimate. Four firms bid. The others under were the I-22 overlay, the I-59 fog seal and open-graded friction course job in Jasper and Clarke counties (APAC-Mississippi, 3.76% under), and two audible-stripe safety jobs in Itawamba, Lee and Pontotoc counties won by Riverside Traffic Systems of New Albany.

Competition

Six of the 15 calls had one bidder: Simpson, Grenada-Carroll-Montgomery, Pearl River, Lamar-Forrest, Lauderdale and Pontotoc. The most bidders on any call was four, on the I-22 overlay, the US 84 slide repair and the MS 19 bridge repair over the Big Black River in Attala County, where Talbot Brothers Contracting of Nesbit was low at $1,820,745.50.

Out-of-state firms took part. Lehman-Roberts of Memphis was low on two interstate calls, and Mobley Contractors of Morrilton, Ark., Barriere Construction of Hammond, La., and RoadSafe Traffic Systems of Chicago also bid.

A heavy interstate program

Eight of the 15 calls were interstate work: I-22 in Marshall County, I-20 in Warren County, I-55 in Madison and in Grenada, Carroll and Montgomery counties, and four I-59 calls from Pearl River County to the Alabama line. Together the eight low bids came to $303.4 million. Several of the I-59 calls are fog seal and open-graded friction course (OGFC) jobs.

How bids were taken

MDOT's notice said electronic bids would be received at 10 a.m. from the Bid Express service and read publicly shortly after in the sixth-floor conference room of the MDOT Administration Building, 401 North West Street, Jackson. Proposals and plans were sold online at shop.mdot.ms.gov starting Oct. 5. Each proposal needed a bid bond, cashier's check or certified check for 5% of the bid.

What comes next

The results are unofficial until MDOT awards the contracts. The notice warned that a DBE goal, where included, makes award contingent on meeting it. The November letting is Nov. 24; its one call so far is the Hinds County median barrier job. See our bids page and our guide to bidding MDOT contracts.