New contract awarded for Streetscape II

Concrete Central of Hagerstown, Maryland has been awarded the contract for phase II of the Town of Bath’s Streetscape project. Concrete Central was the low bidder.

The project involves constructing curbs, sidewalks, drainage, conduit for lights and lighting foundations along the west side of Mercer Street between Fairfax and Union streets.

A small piece of curbing
at the corner of Independence and Mercer streets by Mike’s Garage will be installed so that four way stop signs may be placed at the intersection.

The three bids were submitted by Concrete Central, Building Systems, Inc., both of Hagerstown, and Vista Contracting of Washington, D.C.

Because grant money for the project is limited, the Streetscape Committee wanted some flexibility and divided the project into seven pieces.

Bidders were asked to submit separate figures for each of the six sidewalk pieces on Mercer Street plus a seventh figure for the installation of eight street lights.

The 21 separate numbers submitted by the three bidding contractors for the cost of doing the individual pieces of the project ranged from $9,750 to $97,673.

A typical example was for the courthouse block on Mercer Street. Concrete Central bid $32,714, Vista Contracting bid $48,292 and Building Systems, Inc. bid $97,673.

Bids were opened Wednesday, July 6 at the municipal center. Bids were then examined for correctness and completeness by the Streetscape Committee and the design engineer, Johnson, Mirmiran and Thompson, before the final selection was made.
The West Virginia
Division of Highways has also approved the design plan.

Mayor Susan Webster signed the notice of award on Saturday, July 16. Streetscape Co-Chair Larry Lower said the six sidewalk pieces of the project were awarded along with the curbing by Mike’s Garage.
The seventh piece of the project, the installation of streetlights along Mercer Street, was not awarded.

The total cost is $170,319 and will be paid by a Transportation Enhancement Program grant the town has already received.
Lower said the Streetscape committee has applied for a new grant of $450,000 to upgrade Congress, Independence and Union streets and should hear back from the state this fall.

The contract with Concrete Central runs for 90 days and construction is scheduled to start in mid-August, Lower said.