May 3, 2023 |
Photo – Image of Lewis & Lewis Asphalt Paving – Courtesy Lewis & Lewis
Warmer weather has put the street contractor working Spring Avenue in Saratoga on the fast track.
Work is nearing completion, on the utility and street improvement project, after work resumed following the winter shutdown. Mayor Chuck Davis said he is pleased with the progress Lewis and Lewis, the contractor responsible for the project, has made since work resumed earlier this spring. Mayor Davis said the water main replacement was set to be completed by the end of yesterday. The mayor said paving would occur this weekend, weather permitting.
The Spring Ave project was far behind schedule heading into winter. Lewis and Lewis vowed to return as soon as possible after the town council voted to hold them accountable for not being finished before the end of October. Liquidated damages, in the amount of $1,750 a day, were assessed to the contractor for missing the agreed upon deadline. With a financial incentive to return to the job as soon as the weather would allow, Lewis and Lewis was back in town at the end of March.
During the April 18th town council meeting, Mayor Davis said he met with representatives from Lewis and Lewis. The mayor asked them about patching sections of the road while they were working in town. Water leaks and plow damage ruined large portions of the streets during the winter. The mayor said if the council agreed to Lewis and Lewis’s price, the town would prepare the areas for the contractor to pave.
Lewis and Lewis’s specialized paving equipment can create smoother patches on the roads than the town’s streets department.
Mayor Davis said he was quoted $21,250 to have Lewis and Lewis pave the large patches. He said the price of blacktop was extremely high. As an example, the mayor said pavement accounted for a large percentage of the cost of the town’s Staff Sgt. Tyler Pickett Memorial Park.
The council approved the motion to pay Lewis and Lewis to pave the four large patches. Prep work is already happening. Paving should begin this weekend. Mayor Davis said the contractor has not provided him with an updated completion date.
