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Bid for Wick Avenue project $1.2M less than city estimate
YOUNGSTOWN
The city received a proposal for a major Wick Avenue improvement project that is considerably less expensive than the estimated cost for the work.
Marucci & Gaffney Excavating Inc.’s proposal – the apparent lowest among six opened Wednesday – is for $4,098,832. The city’s estimate for the project was $5.3 million.
That would save the city more than $1.2 million.
City officials will review the proposal from the Youngstown-based company and determine if everything is in order before the board of control approves it, said Charles Shasho, deputy director of public works.
The next lowest proposal is from A.P. O’Horo Co. of Liberty at $4,432,000.
“We’re very happy with what appears to be a successful bid price,” said Mayor John A. McNally. “We have been talking about this project for a few years, and now we can get started.”
If a proposal is awarded in the next couple of weeks, the project will begin next month, Shasho said.
The project will take a year to complete, he said.
The city is paying the cost for most of the work with Youngstown State University giving $800,000 and Youngstown CityScape raising money for part of the job.
The project along Wick Avenue, near the YSU campus, is from Wood Street to McGuffey Road.
The project will move above-ground utility poles underground between Rayen Avenue and the Madison Avenue Expressway access roads, Shasho said.
The work also includes replacing two waterlines with one, replacing a sewer line, installing new traffic lights, reducing the four-lane road to three with the middle being a turning lane, paving and new signs, he said.
“The roadway isn’t strong,” Shasho said. “It needs to be repaired.”
The road will be closed while work is ongoing though portions could be opened when as work on it gets done.
The board of control two weeks ago approved a $294,171 contract with FirstEnergy to bury wires underground as part of this project. The money given by YSU will go toward that work with the rest for other aspects of the project, Shasho said.