The city’s landfill expansion project is back out to bid after remnants of explosives at the site stopped work earlier this year.

Bids are due Tuesday afternoon for the project, which involves building two new cells at the landfill.

Northern Alaska Contractors was originally hired for the job this past spring, at a price of about $3.9 million. But the company put the project on hold after workers found dynamite wrappers in rocks that had been trucked into the site.

The city opted to cancel their contract after Northern Alaska asked for a $2.3 million dollar change order to deal with the possibility of explosives.

The city’s new bid documents address the explosive wrappers that were already found in rock fill at the site. The rocks are meant to be used in building the new landfill cells, but the city's project manual says it’s ”unknown if there are intact, complete or viable explosives remaining in the stockpile.”

The manual says the city will pay for a licensed explosives handler to store and dispose of any explosive materials found on site.

In an email, city engineering consultant Tom Regan says the project’s new parameters cover “unforeseen or changed conditions" to minimize the possibility of more change orders down the line.

But he couldn’t say yet how those changed conditions will impact the project’s cost. The city’s original estimate was around $5.6 million. They want the project finished by September 2015.

Related stories:

• Explosive Materials in Reused Rocks Halt Landfill Expansion (April 21, 2014)
• City Tallies Cost of Blasting Issues at Wastewater Plant, Landfill (May 12, 2014)