HOLMES BEACH – City commissioners recently approved a contract with Superior Asphalt to mill and resurface various streets and roads throughout the city.
The total cost of the work approved on Nov. 14 is not to exceed $324,307. The commission also approved a contract with McShea Contracting for pavement marking services. The total cost of the pavement marking is not to exceed $203,281.
The contract with Superior Asphalt doesn’t name the specific city streets to be milled and resurfaced, nor does the bid proposal that the company submitted in response to the invitation to bid that the city issued in September.
Superior Asphalt’s bid proposal does include the estimated number of square yards to be milled and resurfaced. The proposal estimates 17,619 square yards of S-3 Friction Course asphalt will be laid down at a thickness of 1.5 inches and 375 yards of S-1 Structure Course asphalt will be laid down at a thickness of 3 inches.
The Superior Asphalt bid proposal notes Turtle Infrastructure Partners will be subcontracted for the pre-resurfacing milling work that includes removing the top inch and a half of existing pavement and milling the pavement edges. The bid proposal estimates 2,500 square yards of existing pavement will be milled down at a depth of 1.5 inches and 3,788 square yards of edge milling will be performed.
Street selection
During the Nov. 14 meeting, Public Works Superintendent Sage Kamiya explained how the specific areas to be milled and resurfaced will be selected. Kamiya said the new contract is a continuation of previous street resurfacing done by Superior Asphalt.
“We think we can probably do about 10 roads. We’re going to need to give them those specific locations. That’s why there’s not a specific list here. Some of that will depend on how the dollar goes. There is a limit in their contract, so we won’t exceed that. It’s a one-year contract. It could be extended up to two years. One of the things we run into with resurfacing is the cost of pavement is based on oil (prices) and that fluctuates a little bit. In the good, we can do more. In the not-so-good, we do less. We did include a $20,000 adjustment to make sure we make the best use of this request for proposals,” he said.
Kamiya said the city has used Superior Asphalt for the past two years and their working relationship dates back several years.
“They’ve done good by us. It’s a great relationship. We’re looking forward to continuing it,” he said.
Kamiya said the Superior Asphalt bid was the lowest in terms of price and the most appropriate overall. He said the milling and resurfacing work will be funded by half-cent sales tax revenues the city receives from the county.
“You gave us the money to take care of the roads so we’re going to do it before it (the price) goes up,” Kamiya said.
Pavement marking
According to the pavement marking bid proposal submitted by McShea Contracting, the pavement marking will take place in the following areas:
- Gulf Drive from E. Bay Drive to White Avenue – approximately 2.8 miles.
- Marina Drive from Palm Drive to 56th Street – approximately 0.5 miles.
- Palm Drive from Gulf Drive to Marina Drive – approximately 0.7 miles.
According to the invitation to bid issued by the city, “This contract intends to remove existing pavement markings and replace with thermoplastic paint striping, RPMs (raised pavement markers) and pavement markings for approximately 4 miles of public streets.”
The pavement markings will include new center lines, edge markings, reflective markers down the center of the roads, bike lane striping and repainting the faded crosswalk markings.
When discussing the pavement marking contract with the city commission, Kamiya said, “This is a little bit of a newer conversation. We’ve not specifically talked about putting markings on the roadway. There are national guidelines and some local requirements for us to make sure we maintain the pavement markings.
Kamiya said he wasn’t sure when the pavement markers were last maintained, but it’s been a long time.
“A lot of the reflectors in the middle of the road are gone,” he said.
Kamiya noted that Gulf Drive and Marina Drive are the most traveled roads in the city and the thermoplastic striping material has an estimated life of three to seven years.
