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Youngstown board approves Belmont Avenue resurfacing contract
YOUNGSTOWN
The board of control approved an $865,757 contract to resurface Belmont Avenue from Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to Wirt Street on the North Side.
All the money to pay for the improvement project will come from federal and state funding, said Charles Shasho, deputy director of the city’s public-works department.
Work on the project will start later this month and will take up to 90 days to complete.
The board at its Thursday meeting selected Karvo Paving of Stow to do the work. Karvo submitted the lowest proposal among five companies seeking the contract.
“We got a very good price; I was shocked at it,” Shasho said. “We had estimated the cost at over $1 million. This company did a similar project to Fifth Avenue last year.”
Karvo paved Fifth Avenue between U.S. Route 422 and Gypsy Lane last year for $913,337. The city’s estimate was $1.27 million for that project.
The work on Belmont Avenue is part of the city administration’s focus on improving Youngstown’s main corridors, Shasho said.
Also, the board of control approved a contract to purchase road salt from Morton Salt at $63.36 a ton.
Morton, based in Chicago with a salt mine in Pittman, Ohio, had the least- expensive proposal among three companies seeking the contract.
Youngstown joined Mahoning County and Boardman to purchase road salt in an effort to reduce the cost and increase its buying power.
The city paid $76.31 a ton last year while the county paid $105.25 a ton in 2014 through a state contract. Because of the expense, Boardman didn’t buy salt last winter.
The contract will start in September with the price locked in for a year.
Youngstown committed to buy at least 5,000 tons, the county would purchase at least 3,000 tons and Boardman has a 2,500-ton minimum.