AGENDA #4n

 

MEMORANDUM

 

TO:

Roger L. Stancil, Town Manager

 

 

FROM:

Lance Norris, Interim Public Works Director

 

 

SUBJECT:

Award of Bid for Resurfacing

 

 

DATE:

June 27, 2007

 

The attached resolution would award a contract to Barrett, Irvin, & Jordan Construction Inc. for resurfacing and milling several town-maintained streets, and allow adjustment in the amount of the contract within the amount budgeted by the Council for the budget year 2007-2008.

 

The adoption of the attached resolution would authorize execution of a contract with the low bidder and change orders as necessary provided that the contracted cost of resurfacing, pavement marking and milling remains within the budget.

 

BACKGROUND

 

Budget

 

The Manager’s recommended budget for FY 2007-2008 includes $408,000 for traditional resurfacing and $90,000 for milling selected streets, for a total of $498,000. 

 

Resurfacing and Milling

 

Resurfacing

 

A traditional overlay is one of several preventive maintenance activities to keep pavement, under normal conditions of traffic and normal forces of nature, as nearly as possible in its original constructed condition.  Such maintenance is necessary because all pavements eventually will weaken due to stress caused by traffic loading, weather and oxidization. 

 

The U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration’s publication “Road Surface Management for Local Governments” pavement life cycle analysis shows that the average street pavement quality drops 40 percent over the first 75 percent of life (approximately twelve years) after construction.  Prior to this 40 percent drop in quality, the road condition is usually very good to excellent.  If maintenance is postponed only briefly, even two to three years, then the drop in quality is another 40 percent, resulting in a poor condition.  As a result, maintenance costs increase significantly when this happens.

 

Renovation maintenance (e.g., full-depth patching and street reconstruction) costs may be five times higher, or more, per square yard compared to preventive maintenance (e.g., crack pouring, skin-patching, slurry seals and overlays) cost if repairs by resurfacing are made after the first 75 percent of the life cycle.  The recommended budget also includes $20,000 for slurry seal, $20,000 for fog seal, and $20,000 for crack pouring that would be performed under a separate agreement with different contractors.

 

The list below represents an average pavement age of 16 years.  We believe most or all of the streets or portions of streets can be resurfaced within the $498,000 of available funds and the unit prices in the low bid:

 

Arcadia Lane

Arlington Street

Bonsail Place

Brooks Street

Chapel Street

Chesley Lane

Cloister Lane

Country Club Road

Cumberland Road

Deming Road

Derby Lane

Dogwood Acres Drive

Elizabeth Street

Gomains Avenue

Greenwood Road

Hillsborough Street

Houston Road

Longview Street

Overlook Point

Rosemary Street

Sierra Drive

Steeplechase Road

Sugarberry Road

Tamalpais Point

Velma Road

Village Drive

Willow Drive

 

The street segments listed above would total about 5.9 miles. This list is subject to change depending on conditions at the time of work, such as possible utility failures.

 

To the extent practical we avoid paving into the gutter and would only do so under special circumstances after confirming that doing so would not create a stormwater flow capacity problem.  We anticipate that work in the downtown area and adjacent to campus will be completed prior to UNC’s Fall Semester.

 

Milling

 

Ten of the streets noted above would need to be milled prior to the new overlay. Milling is a process used to retain the gutter to insure proper drainage and consists of machine grinding of pavement surfaces near gutters after several street overlays.  Typically, we recover flow capacity along these streets as a result of the milling process.  Milling also improves adhesion of new surfaces on older surfaces, reducing slippage of asphalt and premature pavement failure.

 

Bid Process

 

Bid notices were distributed to 18 prospective contractors in North Carolina. The notice to bidders was published May 1, 2007 on the Town of Chapel Hill’s website.

 

Six bids were received and publicly opened at 3:00 p.m. on May 24, 2007 as follows:

 

Vendor                                    Asphalt            Milling Striping           Total

Barrett, Irvin & Jordan                       $403,980.00    $88,837.00      $17,480.25      $510,297.25

Raleigh Paving                        $462,000.00    $61,642.00      $18,537.00      $542,179.00

Riley Paving                            $461,000.00    $76,146.00      $17,474.40      $554,720.40

Waugh Asphalt                       $465,540.00    $85,573.60      $18,179.41      $569,293.01

S.T. Wooten                            $485,700.00    $94,276.00      $17,357.43      $597,333.43   

Barnhill Contracting               $495,600.00    $86,298.80      $16,528.30      $598,427.10

 

DISCUSSION

 

Basic Resurfacing

 

The low bid for basic street resurfacing of $403,980 was submitted by Barrett, Irvin & Jordan Construction Inc. Unit prices established under the resurfacing contract would not change as long as the actual amount of asphalt needed to resurface the streets is 25 percent less or more than we estimate.

 

The exact amount of asphalt needed to resurface the streets will be known more precisely after the work is underway.  It is possible that the actual total cost of resurfacing the approximate 5.9 miles of streets based on measured units of asphalt could be higher or lower than now estimated. To the extent funding permits, we could resurface and mill additional streets.  

 

Therefore, as in past years, we request the Council’s authorization to make changes in the amount of the resurfacing contract, if necessary, with the requirement that the contract would remain within the amount budgeted by the Council.  The attached resolution would authorize such a change to the contract.

 

Alternates

 

The alternative bids for milling and striping selected streets included cost quotes of $88,837 and $17,480.25 respectively in Barrett, Irvin & Jordan Construction Inc.’s low bid.  Funds are budgeted in a separate account to cover the cost of striping streets. Given the necessity to coordinate milling and striping with the resurfacing process, selection of one vendor is necessary.

 

In addition to the base bid for street resurfacing, and at the request of the Orange Water and Sewer Authority, an “alternate” bid was requested for raising manhole covers and water valve boxes as a part of the street resurfacing project.  OWASA would pay for this work if it chooses to use the Town’s resurfacing contractor, and thus the cost of this work is not calculated in bid or budget totals.

 

The low bid for basic resurfacing, milling, and striping totals $510,297.25.

 

Option to Extend Contract:

 

The base bid contract may be extended twice by a one-year contract addendum, if mutually agreeable to both parties (Town of Chapel Hill and the Contractor), at the same base unit price. Unit prices for Alternate 1, Manhole and Water Value Adjustments, Alternate 2, Pavement Markings and Alternate 3, Milling, may be resubmitted with each contract extension addendum.

 

RECOMMENDATION

 

That the Council adopt the following resolution awarding a contract for the combined low bid of $510,297.25 by Barrett, Irvin & Jordan Construction Inc.