At this rate, the price tag to replace the Rourke Bridge might approach Lowell High School levels.

During today’s InsideLowell Daily Pulse podcast recording with The Pod Squad, we discussed information I’d received just minutes before show time that the new span over the Merrimack River had skyrocketed during the bid process. Whereas the most recent publicly available numbers suggested a close to $200-million price tag, I’d been told the low bid from interested builders had come in around $270-million. As the show continued, another source close to the situation confirmed the original reporting, more specifically placing the price tag at $273-million.

While there are still some “i’s” to dot and “t’s” to cross as the bid process progresses, the $273-million was apparently the low bid, and if due diligence by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation confirms the builder’s ability to complete the project, they will be officially awarded the contract in March.

How, or if, the price tag affects the project isn’t clear at press time.

A Lowell Sun article yesterday points out that Congresswoman Lori Trahan worked to help secure $180-million in funding from the Federal Government, and State Senator Ed Kennedy was able to include $100-million into the state’s Transportation Bond Bill. Added together, the $280-million covers the new price tag.

Of course a cynic, which I have been accused of being on occasion, might question which came first; the chicken or the egg?

Did the combined federal and state money already take into account a 36% higher cost than the $200-million figure being publicly bandied about (the chicken)? Or did the bidders, realizing $280-million taxpayer dollars were available, tailor the bids toward that figure instead of in the $200-million range (the egg)?

We’ll see if we can get the electeds and appointeds to answer that one, along with how much the fancy new bridge’s bells and whistles (seating and viewing area, benches, bike AND pedestrian lanes, etc) added onto the backs of the taxpayers.

We’ve crossed too much of that bridge to turn back now. And the new span across the mighty Merrimack is sorely needed after 4+ decades of a “temporary” structure.

Still, one can only long for the golden days of 2013, when the Howe Bridge just up the street from the Rourke Bridge cost just $32-million.

(Update to the story: Skanska is the winning bidder. The reference to Lowell High project proved prophetic)