Cost Too High for Street Repairs, Town Says

The repaving and sidewalk reconstruction work on East Prospect Street anticipated to begin in 2012 won’t, and a contractor won’t even be named until 2013.

Hackettstown put the project out to bid recently for the job that includes 2,100 feet of curbing, milling and paving on the road as well as sidewalk repair. The town received a $150,000 grant from the New Jersey Department of Transportation for the project, and added $90,000 of its own funds.

The bids that came in, however, were too high to match the $240,000 threshold, with Top Line Construction submitting an estimate for $262,000–the lowest of the proposals.

“The only we can complete this project right now is to up our share,” town engineer Paul Sturbens said to the mayor and council. “Part of the problem is, this time of year, costs are higher and contractors have work.”

Sturbens recommended the council reject all bids sent in, and put the project back out to the public in January of 2013.

“In the dead of winter,” Sturbens said, “contractors generally have no work, and you can typically get prices 10 to 15-percent lower.”

Sturbens also recommended potentially altering the scope of the project before sending it out to bid so proposals would fit within the allotted funding.

“The sidewalks are in significant disrepair,” he said. “We could maybe lessen the curb work and put that (time and funding) toward the sidwalks.”

The engineer also recommended the potential of the bid being in an incremental format, coupling portions of the work for contractors to bid specifically on sections of the repair.

Hackettstown council approved Sturbens’ recommendation to reject all bids, and will wait until the start of the New Year until it approaches the subject again.