JACKSON – The bids are in.

Last week the bidding closed for the construction of phase one of the North Carolina Center for Automotive Research (NCCAR) in Garysburg.

Since the second week in June, bids were solicited from interested parties. Last Thursday bidding for phase one was closed and the sealed bids collected during the month-long time period were opened.

“We are off to a good start,” said Northampton County Economic Development Director Gary Brown. “We had six qualified bidders; all of them did quite a thorough job of presenting their bids.”

Brown said there was a range between the bids. Ten million dollars separated the low and high bids. The low bid of $8.4 million came from PLT Construction in Wilson, while the high bid of $18.7 million came from S.T. Wooten Corporation.

Glover Construction Company in Pleasant Hill, Virginia Carolina Paving, Richardson Construction Company and Phillips & Jordan Incorporated also submitted bids on the project.

Phase one of the project will include a 2.03-mile ride and handling course, internal road system, vehicle dynamics area, building pads for an Administration and Operations Building and Security Kiosk and associated vehicle and truck parking areas.

Brown anticipates within the 21 days, the bids will be taken before the NCCAR Board of Directors.