Four bids for contracts to repave 8.21 miles of streets in rural residential neighborhoods came in higher than originally estimated Monday.
Milestone Contractors, L.P. of Columbus submitted the lowest total bid to put a new blacktop down in nine subdivisions with a bid of $744,573 — about 27% higher than the total of all estimates released on July 12.
Other bids received by the Bartholomew County Commissioners Monday were: Dave O’Mara Contractor, Inc. of North Vernon, $820,892; All Star Paving, Inc. of Seymour, $845,339; and Robertson Paving, Inc. of Flat Rock, $800,024.
The commissioners were not surprised by the bid amounts as the Federal Highway Administration has said the cost of materials required for road construction has increased dramatically — along with prices for home construction materials.
Supply and demand is likely another factor, county officials said. The Indiana Department of Transportation announced last spring there is a record amount of road construction going on throughout the state’s 92 counties this year, resulting in a shortage of skilled labor.
But since Bartholomew County taxpayers are paying for this second phase of overlay work without any state or federal grant money, local officials might able to trim some costs.
For example, the county highway department can look at every contractor’s bid for each of the nine subdivisions, and choose the least expensive proposal for each neighborhood.
Only one contractor can be hired to carry out an entire overlay project if Community Crossing state matching grants are used. That was the case last June when Milestone Contractors won the entire Phase One program comprised of 22.16 miles of roads for $1.73 million. The state will pay half the costs while the county pays for the other half.
All bids submitted Monday will be studied, and a recommendation will be made to the commissioners later this month.
Another inconvenience with the matching grant program is that state funds are usually not placed in the county coffers until winter, which means the work cannot get underway until spring. But since the county already has the money for Phase Two, the fresh asphalt is likely to be put down before the end of the current construction season.
