College Place council awards Southeast 8th Street sidewalk contract to Humber Asphalt

The College Place City Council on March 10 voted to award the Southeast 8th Street sidewalk and road improvement contract (College Avenue to Birch) to Humber Asphalt for $254,940 and authorized a 20% contingency, bringing the total contract authorization to $305,928.

Public Works Director, who presented the project, said the city received 11 bids and the low bid came in below the engineer's estimate. "We had 11 contractors bid, which is awesome," the director said, adding that the low bid was lower than the engineer's estimate of $284,440. The director described this phase as the federal-funded portion that stays within existing right-of-way.

Council members questioned whether adding sidewalk would force parking restrictions. The Public Works Director said the design uses existing right-of-way to avoid purchasing property and noted there is currently no plan to restrict parking. "While it is going to be tighter than we would like it to be, our engineers have assured us that there is enough room," the director said, adding the travel width would be about 19½ feet, which should allow two normal vehicles to pass.

Council member Cleveland made the motion to award the contract and Council member Boyle seconded. The council approved the motion by voice vote; no opposing or abstaining votes were recorded during the meeting.

The contract covers construction of a sidewalk on the south side of Southeast 8th Street from College Avenue to Birch. The council noted this is one phase of a multi-part effort to provide continuous sidewalks through the corridor; later phases will address road widening and the remainder of the segment.

The council also authorized the public works director or designee to sign the notice of intent to award and all project contract documents and to approve additional work within the 20% contingency.

The council moved on to other items after the vote.