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A $6.797 million contract was approved by the Anoka County Board April 11 for the 2023 overlay program on the county’s highway system.
North Valley, Inc. submitted the lowest of four bids, which was close to $1.7 million under the engineer’s estimate of $8.455 million.
“We are very happy,” County Transportation Officer Joe MacPherson said. “These are very solid bids.”
That was not the case in 2022 when the county missed its estimate because of inflation, the expected cost of blacktop at $75 a ton coming in at $100 a ton during the bidding process.
This year, the county factored in $100 a ton for blacktop in its estimate, but it was priced a lot lower in the bids.
“We bid the project at the right time because oil futures are volatile and the cost of blacktop is rising again,” MacPherson said.
Nine road segments in the system (county state aid highways and county roads) are part of the project, which will include reclamation and overlay or mill and overlay or just overlay.
Project funding includes the county’s transportation tax and state aid highway dollars from gas tax revenues.
Construction is expected to start in May and be completed in the fall.
MacPherson said that with the contract savings staff are considering a second overlay project this year to address major pot hole issues.
SOURCE: Hometown Source
