Two Aurora City Council committees recently recommended two different contracts for the 2024 citywide street resurfacing projects.
Although the city bid two different contracts – one for the West Side and northern part of the city and another for the East Side – the low-bidder for both contracts was Aurora-based Geneva Construction Co.
Aldermen on the Infrastructure and Technology Committee recommended a $3.3 million contract for the West Side and the north end, and the Finance Committee recommended a $5.6 million contract for the East Side projects.
The full City Council still needs to vote on the contracts.
Tim Weidner, Aurora’s engineering coordinator, said this is the second time the city has split the project into two contracts, and officials are likely to keep doing that.
The contracts were split in an effort to encourage more contractors to bid and open some opportunities to smaller firms, Weidner said. But Geneva Construction was the low bidder for both contracts.
“They do good work, so we can recommend approval,” Weidner said.
He added that while one contract was larger than the other, in the future he said it will likely “become more 50-50.”
The city maintains about 1,300 lane miles of streets with a pavement wearing surface life expectancy of 20 to 25 years, he said.
Both of the projects combined will resurface a total of 38.4 lane miles of streets. In 2022, the city resurfaced 40.6 lane miles, and in 2023 the city resurfaced 43.4 lane miles.
Some of the 2023 work is being finished up this year, and Weidner said city officials have tried to “hammer home” to this year’s contractor that they want the work in the 2024 calendar year.
In addition to recommending the contracts, aldermen on the Finance Committee also recommended appropriating some motor fuel tax to pay for most of both contracts. There are some other funding sources, such as Community Development Block Grant money, capital funds and water and sewer funds.
The East Side contract is for work east of the Fox River and south of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad main line tracks.
The other contract is for the portion of the city west of the river and north of the railroad.
Resurfacing construction is expected to start in May and be substantially completed by October. Each street will be under construction for eight to 10 weeks and will have some impact to local traffic, Weidner said.
slord@tribpub.com
