Overbid postpones streetscape work
- Published: September 10, 2015
The downtown streetscape project scheduled to start on the west side of Xenia Avenue this summer has been postponed until the spring of 2016. According to Village Manager Patti Bates, the project’s construction bid was higher than the Village budget allowed, and the project will be rebid next spring. Construction will begin as early as possible after that, possibly in March, Bates said.
Included in phase III of the downtown sidewalk repair, the Village had planned to replace the sidewalks on the west side of Xenia Avenue from Corry Street to Short Street. The work was expected to begin in late July, but according to Bates, the Village received just one bid for $135,000, which exceeded the $100,000 budgeted for the project. The bidder, Durst Brothers Excavating, completed the first two downtown streetscape phases on the east side of Xenia Avenue in 2013 and 2014.
However, Durst Brothers will return to the village this week or next to make repairs to earlier sidewalk work on the east side of Xenia Avenue. Cracks in five or six sections of the new sidewalk in front of Town Drug and the Sunrise Café will take just a few days to repair, according to Jason Hamby, the Village’s superintendent of streets and parks. Shoppers and shop keepers will continue to have access to the businesses, even while the work is being done, he said.
When the Village bids the project out again next year, Bates said, it will likely be in two parts, a base bid for the main project and an alternate bid for the electric work. Splitting the bid gives the Village more options, including the chance to use its own crew for the electric work. Bates also anticipated more bids in the spring, when construction companies plan their schedules for the year.
Despite the delay, the scope of the streetscape project has not changed. The Village plans to do the work in stages along Xenia Avenue, starting with drive aprons for Tom’s Market and Village BP, then moving on to sidewalks and curbs from Corry Street to BP, then down to Kings Yard, on to Tom’s, further down to Mr. Fub’s Party and finishing at Short Street. The work, which will include buried electric lines, tree replacement and new street lamps, is expected to take approximately 11 weeks.
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