The Wright City government has hired a contractor to strip the surface layer and repave the most-used portion of Bell Road, at a cost of about $81,600.
The project was awarded to Mid Rivers …
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The Wright City government has hired a contractor to strip the surface layer and repave the most-used portion of Bell Road, at a cost of about $81,600.
The project was awarded to Mid Rivers Asphalt, which submitted the lowest bid out of three companies, city officials said. Aldermen voted unanimously on May 26 to award the project.
The area to be repaved stretches from just north of the North Outer Road to the intersection with Westwoods Road. However, the repaving does not include the southernmost 12 feet of Bell Road, which is actually part of the state-owned right of way managed by MoDOT, explained City Administrator Jim Schuchmann.
City Public Works Director Kyle Roettger said the surface of Bell Road is showing warning signs of future deterioration, and should be addressed now in order to avoid more serious repairs.
“I think it needs to be done now, before we go into the fall and winter. You can see it’s already starting to fail. With more construction traffic that’s going to go on it, it’s just going to keep deteriorating,” Roettger said. “With school being out until August, now would be a good time to fix it.”
Rather than simply pouring new pavement on top of the old, Mid Rivers will first mill the road, which is the process of stripping away the upper layer before paving a new hard surface. Roettger noted that the most severely deteriorating portions of the road, where the pavement is already crumbling, will have additional repairs before the repaving. Public works staff will cut through the road and dig out 16 inches of the failing subsurface rock, then fill it with fresh rock ahead of the paving, Roettger said.
Alderman Karey Owens noted that there was a sizable price difference between Mid Rivers Asphalt and a competing service, Meier Contracting. She asked how the prices between two companies for the same project could have that difference.
“If I had to guess, it’s the location of the businesses,” replied Roettger. “Mid Rivers is based out of Troy, which is a lot closer than this Meier Contracting. It would be a lot more expensive for (Meier) to haul their equipment out here.”
Roettger added that Mid Rivers Asphalt has completed projects for the city in the past and did high-quality work.
Owens also noted the aldermen had budgeted about $100,000 for this road repair.
Alderman Ramiz Hakim later noted that the city is contracting with an engineering firm to evaluate what repairs and improvements are necessary on other main roadways in Wright City.
