Drivers are about to be in for a smoother ride on certain streets in the City of Williamsburg.
The Williamsburg City Council unanimously approved a bid from Branscome Inc. to fulfill the city’s annual asphalt overlay schedule, which will repave eight city streets.
At $877,888.68, Branscome’s bid was the lower of two bids received by the city for the repaving program. The other bid, from Basic Construction Co., was for $1,017,311.22.
Director of Public Works and Utilities Dan Clayton said the bids were per ton of asphalt, and were based on city estimates of how much asphalt was required to repave the streets selected for this year’s program.
The eight streets scheduled for repaving this year are:
- South Boundary Street
- Capital Landing Road between Lafayette Street and Page Street
- North Henry Street/Route 132 from the railroad tracks to the city limit
- Jamestown Road from Boundary Street to Lake Matoaka
- Indian Springs Road, including Indian Springs Coirt
- York Street Page Street to the city limits
- Yorkshire Drive
- Whitby Court
Whitby Court was not specifically included on a memo to City Council on the repaving program in August, but Public Works and Utilities Project Manager Ralph Patterson said the city staff had planned to include it under the Yorkshire Drive repaving, as the streets are connected.
The city usually allocates $450,000 for its street repaving program. This year, Williamsburg applied for and received dollar-for-dollar revenue sharing from the state, doubling the total funding for the program to $900,000, and allowing for a larger-than-normal repaving plan.
City streets usually last for 12 to 15 years between resurfacings. City Manager Jack Tuttle said the city kept track of resurfacing cycles and determined the resurfacing schedule based on which streets were in the worst condition.
Patterson said the period between resurfacing could be shorter or longer than 15 years, depending on the amount of traffic on the street. The lightly traveled Whitby Court has not been resurfaced since it was first constructed in 1988, while North Henry Street was last addressed in 2006.
Due to the rising cost of asphalt, the city had to delay resurfacing Jamestown Road, leading to additional wear and tear on the heavily used street. Clayton said the state revenue sharing provided enough funding to complete the resurfacing of Jamestown Road.
“That’ll be good news for a lot of people,” Vice Mayor Paul Freiling said. “Hopefully, it will work.”
Councilman Doug Pons supported the proposed repaving plan, and suggested the city could look into adding pull-offs for city buses in future repaving programs.
“As we make these road improvements – and certainly sidewalk improvements – should we or could we be considering providing some extra space on the side of the road for buses to turn off at the bus stops?” he said.
Clayton said the size of the pull-off would determine its feasibility on any city street, but added city staff would do research on the possibility.
With the contract approved, Clayton said construction would begin next month and be completed by July 1.
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