Sawmill Parkway will soon benefit from a resurfacing project as Powell City Council voted recently to award the project bid to Shelly and Sands, Inc.
The road work will focus on the stretch of Sawmill Parkway between Seldom Seen Road and Home Road. Originally estimated by the city to cost around $1.4 million, the winning bid carried a cost estimate of $1,024,962. Powell will pay just 40% of the cost as most of the funding is coming from the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission.
A total of four bids were received for the resurfacing project, all of which had estimates lower than what the city budgeted. City Manager Andrew White speculated the significantly lower bids were a result of the current state of the economy and the growing uncertainty for companies as a result of the pandemic. The remaining funds originally budgeted for the project will be allocated to other areas of the city’s 2020 budget.
Bids for the project included two options regarding the time of day in which work would take place on Sawmill Parkway. The first option was for work to be done at night, and that bid came back cheaper and was selected by council. As such, the majority of the road work will take place between the hours of 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. Two-way traffic will be maintained throughout the project.
Work on the resurfacing project is expected to begin June 1 and is to be completed within no more than 120 days. Aaron Scott, staff engineer for the city, estimated a completion date of early October. He added it is possible the project could be started sooner than June. However, because the bid had not yet been awarded, conversations with the company have not been held to discuss an earlier start date.
Councilman Jon Bennehoof said that an earlier start time on the project would be “advantageous” given the decrease in traffic on the roads during the stay-at-home order.
In addition to the road resurfacing, Scott said parts of the pathway running along the west side of Sawmill Parkway between Seldom Seen Road and Home Road that are most in need of repairs will also see work during the project. The repairs will force periodical closures to parts of the pathway. He said to avoid any extended closures on the pathway, it was stipulated in the documents for the project that those repairs need to be done in a timely manner.
