Lehigh Valley Airport Authority Votes to Settle Lawsuit that Froze $29 Million Construction Project

A month after a Pennsylvania judge ordered construction to freeze on a $29 million connector bridge project at Lehigh Valley International Airport, the Lehigh-Northampton Airport Authority voted to settle the case.

The authority’s board of governors emerged from a lengthy executive session Tuesday and approved the settlement without further discussion. The terms of the deal were not released.

“We are excited to get this critical infrastructure project for our regional transportation system back on track,” said Colin Riccobon, the authority’s director of public and government relations.

Departing travelers at the airport check in at the main terminal before going through the TSA checkpoint in an underground tunnel. Once through security, travelers take the tunnel to the Wiley Post Terminal, where they board their flights. The process has become clogged, however, as the tunnel was built in the 1970s and was not designed with security checks in mind.

The authority and winning bidder Bracy Construction broke ground in May to build a new connector bridge that would alleviate the flow of foot traffic around the airport. The bridge would allow the TSA to double the number of lines at the airport and provide its agents with better storage and office space. The tunnel would continue to serve arriving travelers.

But months earlier, IMC Construction filed a protest over the bidding process. Bracy was allowed to amend an error in its application after the deadline, giving it an unfair advantage in the process, IMC alleged. The airport authority awarded Bracy’s corrected contract of $20 million - up from the $18.6 million in its initial bid - over IMC’s $20.8 million proposal, according to court documents.

Richard Reinhard, an employee of IMC, and Anthony Pritash, of Northampton, filed a lawsuit in January against Bracy and the authority in Lehigh County Court. While they lost the initial trial, Commonwealth Court President Judge Emeritus Mary Hannah Leavitt ruled in an appeal that the airport violated its own standards in awarding the contract to Bracy. She ordered an injunction halting construction on the bridge, which is only about 5% complete, according to court documents.

“Because LNAA allowed Bracy to amend a unit price line item after the bid deadline through an unauthorized mechanism, Bracy was given a competitive advantage that other bidders did not receive,” Leavitt ruled.

Ed Siglias, the attorney representing Reinhard and Pritash, declined to comment, noting the settlement is not yet finalized. He anticipated the settlement would be finalized in the next few weeks. Bracy Vice President Matt Puchyr did not immediately return an email seeking comment.

Since the initial ruling, Leavitt clarified that other contractors providing plumbing, electrical and mechanical services could continue work. The construction contract cannot proceed until a judge lifts the injunction, Riccobon said.

Morning Call reporter Tom Shortell can be reached at 610-820-6168 or [email protected].

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