This year’s project will focus on repairing or improving the asphalt on sections of South Beech Street, Cactus Street, North Henry Street and South Market Street as well as a section of airstrip.
It originally included resurfacing on two alleyways, but those have been removed from the plan due to cost. Even without the alley part of the project, the contract will cost the city about $325,000 more than the budgeted amount, which public works director Phil Johnson blamed on the rising cost of asphalt.
The only other company to bid on the project, Oldcastle Southwest Group Inc., gave an estimate more than $200,000 higher than the one D&L submitted. The city’s original budget for the project was set at $850,000, to be paid out of the street capital projects fund. Johnson said the asphalt price came in at $66 per ton higher than originally estimated.
“It was a pretty big miss on the estimation,” he said.
But despite the unexpected price increase, Johnson said the city should still have enough money in the street improvement fund to pay for the entire project. The fund, which comes from the city’s sales tax revenue, contains about $2 million for the entire year.
Mayor Pro Tem Ty Keel asked if it was common for asphalt prices to change so drastically. Johnson replied that prices often change from plant to plant and from season to season, but the difference between the estimated cost and the actual one isn’t usually so large.
The city did construction work on Henry Street last year, but Johnson said crews didn’t have time to entirely repave it before winter, so it was added to this year’s street project.
D&L Construction will lay new asphalt on each of the streets included in the project, and in some cases they will add curbs, gutters and sidewalks. The most extensive work will be done on Cactus Street, where the construction company plans to excavate an entirely new stretch of paved road from the end of the pavement at the Wal-Mart entrance to Third Street. Overall, the project includes improvements on about 10,930 square yards of existing paved streets and 2,150 yards of new street construction.
D&L owners Dave and Lana Waters recently received a high-impact industrial permit for their location on County Road L, where they hope to eventually install their own temporary asphalt plant.
The council members voted unanimously in favor of the contract, with council member Shawna McLaughlin being absent, but Keel said the high cost disappointed him.
“This leaves us pretty well off next year for street improvement, but this isn’t something we can really foresee ... happening again,” he said. “I like to have a little cushion in there for the future.”
The council also awarded a bid to OmniTech Industries to replace the flooring on the men’s and women’s locker rooms in the recreation center. That project is estimated to cost $46,700.
The council also approved a payment of $73,009.36 to the Colorado Department of Transportation for the city’s part in a fiber installation project along U.S. Highway 491, which was completed in 2016.
They scheduled two public hearings for their next meeting on May 23, one for a liquor license for Mi Mexico Restaurant on 550 S. Broadway, and one for the second reading of an ordinance to allow the sale of real estate to Montezuma Partners, LLC.