Othello First Ave. project hit with $250K in added costs

OTHELLO — The costs of resurfacing First Avenue have risen by $250,000 after the contractor overseeing the work, Varela & Associates, discovered that the underlying asphalt is in far worse condition than originally thought.

“First Avenue is in worse condition and needs more work,” said Jake Dial, an engineer with Varela.

Dial told the city council at a regular meeting Monday that the firm discovered that not only was the top layer of asphalt in miserable condition, the two layers below it were in such terrible shape a new layer of asphalt wouldn’t last more than five-to-seven years.

“This needs to be consistent with something that will last more than five-to-seven years,” said Mayor Shawn Logan.

The city council quickly approved paying the additional $250,000, but wondered where all of it would come from.

Spencer Williams, Othello’s finance officer, said the city could cover around $160,000 of that, leaving about $90,000 left unpaid for.

“There is a (state Transportation Improvement Board) grant that can pay for up to $95,000 per project,” Williams said.

According to City Administrator Wade Farris, the First Avenue improvement project will cost about $2.1 million, with $1.8 million paid for by the Transportation Improvement Board (TIB). That was before the latest increase, however.

Dial told the council during a regular meeting Monday that First Avenue appears to have been resurfaced twice since the street was originally paved. When the top layer was stripped off, it took up chunks of underlying layers with it, a process Dial described as “delamination.”

Dial said the company took several core samples of First Avenue before beginning work, but those samples did not indicate just how bad the underlying asphalt was.

Instead of simply resurfacing the top layer, Dial said they were going to take up all the asphalt down to the dirt, grind it into gravel, and then use that as a roadbed for a layer or two of asphalt.

“As long as we got it stripped down, let’s do it right,” said council member Larry McCourtie.

The city council also proclaimed Monday, Oct. 30 as Arbor Day in the city, and will mark the occasion by planting 50 trees along 14th Avenue from SR-26 to Cemetery Road.

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached via email at countygvt@columbiabasinherald.com