Madison Township seeking bids for summer paving program
The Madison Township trustees hope to have a 2024 summer road paving contract as early as their first regular meeting in June. The board approved final bid documents and voted to advertise for bids at a special meeting Wednesday evening.
Trustees had been scheduled to finalize the program at their regular meeting Monday when Trustee Dan Fletcher presented a resolution and related bid specifications to put new asphalt on 14 roads at an estimated cost of nearly $350,000. However, the board delayed action until Wednesday to include Bentwood and Home Roads, which required different specifications from the original list.
Bentwood needed more milling down of the current surface and application of a thicker layer of asphalt than the other roads while the cost of the Home Road project will be a joint project with Springfield Township. Both roads had tentatively been scheduled for the 2023 paving program but were left off the list last year as discussions of what roads to include in the program stretched over a number meetings.
The bid document divides the project specifications into three sections — one for the majority of the roads, one for Bentwood and one for Home Road from Marion Avenue north to the Mansfield City limits. Madison trustees approved a similar contract with Springfield Township last summer to share the cost of resurfacing a section of Home Road from the entrance to Deer Park north.
Trustees are scheduled to open bids for this year’s road program at 7 p.m. May 28 during a special meeting that has not yet been officially scheduled. Trustees said they hope to be able to award a contract at their June 3 regular meeting. The completion deadline is Sept. 1.
The list of roads for paving includes portions of Berger, Walker, Benedict, Averill, and Herring Avenues, Woodside, Truxall, Fir, Springlake and Lakefront Drives and Molly and Brentwood Courts.
Trustees did not take any action on a suggestion Monday by Fletcher to do chip/seal work on all or parts of Trimble, Hanna, Hahn and Ridge Roads and Hickory Lane. Fletcher told the News Journal he plans to get cost estimates on chip/seal materials before he presents a formal list for the board to consider.
Madison Township currently has around $350,000 in the road fund, which includes a carryover from 2023.
Residents seek Brace Avenue repairs
During a public comment period prior to the discussion and vote on the paving program, trustees heard from two Brace Avenue residents who asked if their street could be put on the list as an addition or to replace another street because the pavement on Brace has deteriorated as a result of dump trucks and other large vehicles coming and going from the township road department garage. They said that while trustees said at the time the garage was built that the township would maintain the road, nothing has been done since.
They also complained that boring under local roads where natural gas pipeline work is being done has created “dips” and “sinkholes” that have not been repaired.
Fletcher said while there could be funds available for possible temporary patching on Brace, putting a 1½ inch layer of new asphalt on top of the current surface similar to the paving program was “not the right way to do the road.” He also said that he didn’t want to change the current list noting, “we’re behind the eight ball as it is,” in terms of timing of the bidding process.
Fletcher told the News Journal it is his opinion that Brace Avenue will need some type of reconstruction similar to what was done on Old Bowman Street. The Ohio Public Works Commission provided funding two years ago for a $206,449 project to rebuild part of Old Bowman Street Road which was damaged by constant use by recycling trucks.
This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Madison Township trustees approve summer paving program
