LA PLATA — The last stretch of Western Parkway is now expected to cost Charles County about $1 million more than its engineers projected this year, so county commissioners on Oct. 20 moved $1.8 million inside the project to make sure the money is there when bids come in.
The budget transfer, approved by voice vote with Commissioner Ralph Patterson absent, shifts money out of the project’s land and right-of-way line and into construction for Phase 3B, the half-mile segment meant to carry the road to the U.S. 301 right-of-way in Waldorf. It adds no new county money. The savings came from land acquisitions and easements that cost less than expected, according to the budget presentation.
For drivers who have watched the parkway grow in pieces for years, the bigger news may be the calendar. Public Works staff told commissioners the county plans to put Phase 3B out for bids by the end of this month, award a contract around the end of January, start construction in February 2027 and finish in 2028. A separate traffic signal project at U.S. 301 is to bid in the spring.
Why the estimate jumped
The math behind the transfer is straightforward. A construction estimate prepared this year put Phase 3B at $5.1 million. But when the county bid the previous segment, Phase 3A3, last January, the prices came back about 20% above the engineer’s estimate. County staff applied the same markup to 3B, raising the expected cost to $6.1 million.
| Phase 3B figure | Amount |
|---|---|
| Engineer’s construction estimate (2026) | $5.1 million |
| Estimate after 20% market adjustment | $6.1 million |
| Money already in the construction line | $4.5 million |
| Transfer approved Oct. 20 | $1.8 million |
The construction line had $4.5 million, leaving a gap of roughly $1.6 million at the adjusted estimate. The $1.8 million transfer covers that gap with about $200,000 to spare.
Commissioners pressed staff on how an estimate less than a year old could miss by that much. A Public Works program manager said the $5.1 million figure is recent, but that engineers’ estimates on past phases have consistently landed about 20% below actual bids. A deputy director in the department’s capital project management division said the county budgets from engineers’ estimates or estimating software, but does not know true market prices until bids are opened. After the Phase 3A3 bids came in high 11 months ago, she said, the department now applies that experience to other roadway projects.
Where the work stands
Phase 3A3 is under construction now and is expected to be finished in January 2027, according to the Department of Public Works update to commissioners and a county news release summarizing the meeting. Crews have installed stormwater facilities beneath the roadbed and are grading the alignment.
Soil has been one of the cost risks. The Public Works official who presented the update told commissioners the county does not know what it is dealing with until crews dig, sample and send material to a lab. On 3A3, the project’s assistant chief negotiated a change order down by $80,000 by mixing cement into the existing soil to strengthen the roadbed instead of replacing it, according to the presentation. That soil-cement work was finished a couple of weeks ago.
Phase 3B picks up where 3A3 ends. Staff said permits and right-of-way work are nearly finished and that the county will seek prices on a biddable set of drawings while those last steps wrap up, so a contract can be awarded around the end of January.
The final piece is the signal at U.S. 301, which staff described as the most disruptive part of the job for drivers. Crews will need to shift the highway median and install a new traffic signal, working with the State Highway Administration. Staff said the work itself is not long, but the timing has to be right on one of the county’s busiest roads.
Part of a busy capital agenda
The parkway update was one of four project briefings commissioners heard on Oct. 20. The same session covered the county’s long-delayed La Plata library, which still awaits a town building permit, and a sidewalk program with 46 requests and seven projects in design. Staff also reported that the new Charles County Animal Care Center is on track for completion in February 2027 and that the Pinefield EMS station is expected to be finished in May 2027.
The 20% bid gap the county saw on Western Parkway is the kind of overrun that can ripple through a capital budget. Staff said the department is now using that markup going forward on its roadway estimates, which means other road projects may carry higher price tags when they reach commissioners.
The board that awards the Phase 3B contract may look different from the one that approved the transfer. Charles County voters elect commissioners on Nov. 3, and a contract award is expected around the end of January.
