Commissioners Pondering Price Of Paving
Chip-and-seal paving, like the county did on the 2019 Molasses Hollow Road project, might be an alternative for Coffman Road, due to rising asphalt prices.
By MARK EVANS
mevans@stegenherald.com
With bids coming in higher than expected, the Ste. Genevieve County Commission will have to make a decision on how to address Coffman Road.
The road is next on the county’s paving list. A six-tenth of a mile stretch will be paved. Road and Bridge Foreman Scott Schmieder had urged the commission to pave the stretch with asphalt, rather than a chip-and-seal mixture, due to truck traffic on the road.
When bids were opened last Thursday, however, the figures were higher than anticipated.
Jokerst, Inc., bid $74.50 per ton for a total of $57,738. Vern Bauman Contracting bid $86.81 per ton, for a total of $64,934.
Josh Baker of Vern Bauman Contracting had discussed the county’s bidding procedure the previous week, suggesting they use the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT)’s asphalt price index in requesting paving bids this year. The price index is an average cost for liquid asphalt cement at the specific time and is published by the Weekly Monitor, using baseline asphalt prices in the St. Louis and Kansas City areas.
Presiding Commissioner Garry Nelson noted that it might be used, but only with a stipulation that the work had to be done by a certain time. Otherwise the price would continue to rise beyond what had been budgeted.
“It’s not a simple answer,” he said.
This is what had already happened with Coffman Road.
Nelson admitted that he had anticipated the job to run about $45,000 or so.
The rising price of oil and fuel is causing prices of asphalt and labor both to rise quickly.
“We’ll go through the budget and see whether we can squeeze out the money,” Nelson said.
He said they would also see how much it would cost to chip and seal the stretch and would be discussing it further this Monday.
MORE PROBLEMS WITH SPECTRUM
More complaints about contractors hired by Spectrum to lay cable throughout the county had been received. The commissioners had had two face-to-face meetings with Spectrum representatives, who had vowed that the issues would be taken care of.
Schmieder Thursday said the mess left behind on River Aux Vases Church Road “looks like a disaster.”
A drainage ditch was filled in, causing a pipe to clog and large rocks had been spewed all over, making it virtually impossible to mow. So do instances of cable lying directly on the ground, with weeds growing over it. Spectrum had agreed to bury all cable 24 to 30 inches deep.