By Jim Bloch
The Raymond Excavating Company, of Marysville, has won the contract to resurface nearly four miles of streets around Court and Tunnel streets in Port Huron. Raymond was the lowest of three bidders at $1,944,452.
The city council voted unanimously at its regular meeting Sept. 11 to approve the contract.
The bids were tightly bunched. Ajax Paving Technologies, of Troy, submitted the next lowest bid at $1,962,889. Murray Underground Systems, Inc., of Fort Gratiot Township, was high at $1,992,800.
City Manager James Freed said in his memo to the council and Mayor Pauline Repp that 3.73 miles of streets will be resurfaced. The project calls for the removal and replacement of miscellaneous concrete curbs, gutters and sidewalks, including ramps compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, the restoration of lawns damaged during the work, the milling and asphalting of the streets and the application of pavement markings.
“These were some of the first roads that were part of the sewer separation project back in the 1990s,” said Freed, as heard on the recording of the meeting posted on the city’s website. “This will be the second year in a row that we’ve done a large swath of the south side community.
In the Court Street area, Howard Street, Pine, Wall, Union and Chestnut will be resurfaced from Seventh to 10th Street; Court will be resurfaced between Seventh and Eighth streets; White will be resurfaced between Eighth and 10th streets; and Eighth Street will be resurfaced from White to Lapeer Avenue.
In the Tunnel Street area, Bancroft and Johnstone streets will be resurfaced between Seventh and 10th streets; Tunnel and Jenkinson streets will be resurfaced from 10th to Military street; Seventh and Eighth streets will be resurfaced between Bancroft and Johnstone streets; and Ninth Street will be resurfaced from Bancroft to Tunnel Street.
“How long is this going to take to do?” asked Mayor Repp.
Freed said the work would take “a month or so.”
The work is slated for next spring, Freed said.
The final vote was 5-0. Council members Anita Ashford and Jeff Pemberton were absent.
Jim Bloch is a freelance writer based in St. Clair, Michigan. Contact him at bloch.jim@gmail.com.
