NYSDOT's March 26 letting opened its four biggest Long Island contracts of the day, and H & L Contracting LLC was on the low bid for all four. It won three on its own and the Long Island Expressway resurfacing as half of the Posillico/H&L joint venture. Here are the three it took alone, plus two smaller Island results from earlier this winter.

Asphalt resurfacing, Amityville and Lindenhurst (D265740, PIN 0810.82), Suffolk. Four bids. H&L low at $16,578,000.00; Rosemar Contracting Inc. $17,417,939.51 ($839,939.51 back, 5.07%); Suffolk Paving Corp. $17,699,600.93; Posillico Civil Inc. $18,381,777.84. The spread is 10.88%, a tight field. NYSDOT does not print an engineer's estimate with its letting results. The public yardstick is the state's Transportation Improvement Program (STIP), which carries a construction line for each project. Its entry for this PIN describes resurfacing NY 27 (Sunrise Highway) from the Nassau/Suffolk line to North Monroe Avenue plus the NY 27 service roads from NY 109 to Udall Road, with $16.9 million for construction. H&L came in $322,000 under, 1.91%. Completion is Feb. 28, 2027. Board: RFI-002573.

NY 24 resurfacing, Meadowbrook State Parkway to NY 110 (D265733, PIN 0553.22), Nassau and Suffolk. Two bids. H&L at $16,660,509.19, Posillico Civil Inc. at $19,630,263.12, $2,969,753.93 higher, 17.83%. The STIP carries $18.1 million for construction, so the low is 7.95% under. The governor's October paving list put the job at $23.1 million. The proposal wants it finished by Dec. 31, 2026, a single season.

Taxiway Delta reconstruction, Republic Airport (D265731, PIN 0903.91), Town of Babylon. NYSDOT owns Republic Airport in East Farmingdale. Its preliminary notice describes demolition and new full-depth pavement on Taxiway Delta and its connectors, new signs, edge lighting, markings and drainage, with some phases closing Runway 14-32. H&L was low at $9,791,533.85, Posillico Civil Inc. second at $10,581,365.08 ($789,831.23, 8.07%), and Suffolk Paving Corp. third at $12,192,876.90, a 24.52% spread across the three priced bids. The results sheet lists a fourth submission, from Pioneer Landscaping & Asphalt, as "Informal" with no amount; the record gives no further detail. The notice says the job is expected to be paid for with a Federal Aviation Administration Airport Improvement Program grant, and that no work can start until that grant is executed, anticipated for fall 2026. Bidders were told to expect a long award period.

Earlier this winter. On Jan. 22, contract D265655, intersection improvements at NY 25 and Mount Sinai-Coram Road in Brookhaven, drew nine bids. Rosemar Contracting Inc. was low at $3,529,255.98, ahead of Pratt Brothers Inc. at $4,056,789.00 ($527,533.02, 14.95%), with Quintal Contracting Corp. high at $6,897,149.00. All nine came in under the $7.0 million the STIP carries for construction; the low was 49.58% under. On Feb. 26, contract D265652, safety enhancements at spots on NY 25A, NY 109, NY 27, NY 25 and the Sunken Meadow Parkway, drew two bids: GGG Construction Corp. $6,891,958.54 and Quintal Contracting Corp. $7,520,114.44 (9.11% apart). The low was 14.94% over the STIP's $5,996,000 construction line. Board: RFI-002552, RFI-002566, RFI-002571, RFI-002569.

The ads for all five listed a DBE goal of 0%, which NYSDOT says generally marks single-operation work where subcontracting is not expected. The small fire-loop replacement at Republic, D265739, was the exception on the March letting, with goals of 7% MBE, 11% WBE and 6% SDVOB. Bancker Construction Corp. was low on it at $428,000.00 among three bids.

Why this matters. One firm on every Long Island low in a single letting is the kind of concentration that shapes a paving season. The asphalt, trucks and crews behind those bids will be committed on Sunrise Highway, NY 24, the LIE and an active airfield at the same time. Subs and suppliers on the Island should know where the volume is going. Competing primes should know how little room H&L left them on the tight Amityville field.

What to do next. None of these apparent lows is an award, and the taxiway will not move until the FAA grant is signed. Trucking, milling, striping, drainage and airfield electrical and lighting subs should be pricing to H&L now. Anyone chasing the taxiway should plan around the runway-closure phasing and airport coordination in the bid documents.