Thursday, September 12, 2024
The Granbury City Council is paving the way for new road improvements — literally.
During a regularly scheduled meeting Aug. 6, the council unanimously authorized a $1.3 million project to upgrade Calinco Drive with concrete pavement and add a seal coat to Old Acton Highway. This approval comes after the council previously rejected all bids for the seal coat project for Acton Highway and instructed staff to rebid.
Engineering firm Enprotec, Hibbs & Todd first issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) early last month for the Calinco Drive Improvements Project. The company later issued an addendum to add an alternate bid for Old Acton Highway.
Following the bid process, Jay Mills Contracting Inc. was the only company to respond, offering a base bid price of $662,660 for the Calinco Drive project and an additive alternative bid price of $282,069.20 for the seal coat project for Old Acton Highway.
Chris Hay, project manager for Enprotec, Hibbs & Todd, explained that bids for the project opened July 25, and there were three options for the bid: a base bid for asphalt pavement on Calinco Drive and two cross streets, an alternate bid for concrete instead of asphalt, and an additional bid for a seal coat on Old Acton Highway.
Hay noted the main decision for the council was whether to select the asphalt base bid or the concrete option, which had a cost difference of around $312,000.
During the discussion, Mayor Pro Tem Steven Vale inquired about the lifespan comparison between concrete and asphalt.
Hay explained that according to TxDOT, the typical lifespan for asphalt is around 20 years while concrete can last 30 years. He noted the actual lifespan of asphalt can fluctuate based on maintenance.
“Typically, when you do a life cycle cost analysis, the concrete overall — especially at the prices that you see on the bid tab in front of you — the concrete will be cheaper over the overall life cycle,” Hay said.
Vale mentioned that most drivers coming off Plaza Drive usually turn right toward Harbor Lakes. He said while he doesn’t live in the area, he doesn’t believe the road serves as a major cut-through, adding that the traffic primarily consists of local residents due to the two cul-de-sacs connected to it.
“I think that the life of that road should last quite a while, depending on what option you go with and what we're going to use,” he said.
City Manager Chris Coffman pointed out that a road repaved just two years ago near Meadows Drive is already showing signs of pavement failure at the stop sign.
“It's very frustrating,” he said. “We completely reconstructed that street, and we've already got a failure there, so that's one of the things I thought that would lean me towards recommending the concrete.”
Coffman also noted that Water's Edge Drive is concrete, as are many areas around Granbury City Hall. He added that Travis Street has also been repaved twice in the nine years he’s been living in Granbury.
"It’s because of the base there," he said. “There's moisture under that street from the spring or something, because it's failed. The ultimate cure for base failures is to have a better base and better surface, so I think it's a lot of money investing.”
Following more discussion, Hay summarized the total costs, explaining that the contract price for the asphalt option — along with the additional bid — would be $944,729. In contrast, the total for the concrete option and the seal coat for Old Acton Highway would amount to $1,256,849. He added that based on the way the agenda item is written, there is roughly $43,000 available for contingencies.
Vale added that during the budget workshop, the discussion heavily focused on road funding, noting that the city spends about a million dollars annually on road maintenance. He mentioned that while there was a proposal to increase that spending to $2 million, the conversation shifted toward a larger initiative for improving the roads.
“It seems like we just can't seem to catch up,” he said. “I guess my concern somewhat, is that we put asphalt down even before we get to some other roads that I know need to be done, and probably fairly soon, if not now, you know, we're going to have some challenges with this road down the road — no pun intended — and we're going to be back at it again. To me, personally, the concrete option is certainly a better one from a long-term perspective.”
Vale then made a motion to award Jay Mills Contracting Inc., the bid for street improvement projects for Calinco Drive and Old Acton Highway. The motion also included authorizing Coffman to execute a contract in an amount not to exceed $1.3 million for concrete pavement on Calinco Drive and a seal coat for Old Acton Highway.
Following a second by Place 4 Councilmember Skip Overdier, the motion passed unanimously.
The project will be financed by a mix of funds, including $1 million from the General Capital Project Fund and $300,000 from the 2020 CO Bond Fund.
