Motorists could see action patching roads around Columbia in the next several weeks.
The Board of Aldermen approved a nearly $175,000 contract with Warren & Warren, and work could begin as soon as this week.
The city is targeting potholes most in need of repair and areas where streets were dug up for water line work. Work is planned for Church Street, Gill Street, Porter Street, Branton Avenue, Owens Street, Lafayette Street, Mayfield Street, Park Avenue, South Main, Oak Street, Beauvoir Street, Willow Drive and Conner Avenue. Some areas will be repaired over the school Christmas break to alleviate traffic issues.
City Engineer Sean Burns said a bid opening was held on Nov. 28 and the low base bid was $123,295 from Warren & Warren.
“The base bid includes variety of streets, Church Street, Gill Street, Porter Street, Branton Avenue, Owens Street, Lafayette Street and Mayfield Street. Those are the streets that were included in the base bid. On Church Street, there are about 18 repairs that are going to be made, Gill Street has 27 repairs, Porter has four repairs, Branton Avenue has two, Owens Street there are seven, on Lafayette there are seven and on Mayfield Street there is one. It doesn’t include every pothole on the street; it includes the ones that based on the mayor’s and my trip, and we felt these were the most needed,” Burns said.
The costs for the base bid were lower than projected, after earlier plans were rejected due to cost and scope of the work. Mayor Justin McKenzie and Burns worked to target different areas. Burns said several optional bids were included.
“Option No. 1 is for Park Avenue and we have 14 repairs for it at a cost (low bid) of $33,220,” he said. “Option No. 2 is on South Main Street, one repair is $3,410. Option No. 3 is Oak Street, that total is $1,880 for one repair. Option 4 is Beauvoir Street and the low bid is $1,990 for one repair there. Option No. 5 is for a repair on Willow Drive for $3,410 and the final option is No. 6, that is Conner Avenue which has six repairs and that total is $7,650. The total for all of the work, base bid and all options is $174,855.”
The Board had previously set a budget of approximately $150,000 for work after receiving initial bids for a much larger number of streets for more then $300,000.
“If you want to proceed with the base or any of the other bids, you can pick and choose the additional projects,” he said. “We can always add based on those bids and even add all of them.”
McKenzie discussed the financing of the projects.
“We had initially started with about $40,000 on streets and $100,000 from the Water Department on their repairs,” he said. “Looking at these, we’ve tried to identify more of the water repairs. We discussed what we could put forth for that while also staying on track for our other projects. We figured that $150,000 is where we’re comfortable with the water side of it. That number would leave about $24,000 open to the street budget and that is under what we expected.”
Ward 4 Alderman Mike Smith made a motion to accept the bids. It was unanimously approved. The Board was also informed that the engineering costs would equal 7.5 percent of the contract. The money would be included in the cost, making it come out at the total that was allotted from both the water and street budgets.
Aldermen next meet in regular session at 4 p.m. Dec. 19.
