VERMILION – The price tag for reconstruction of Vermilion’s Sanford Street could go up by $128,700, according to figures from the city.
On July 28, Vermilion City Council will consider legislation approving a price hike for the reconstruction project, which was to cost $731,537.
Most of the additional money, $126,200, will pay for additional work to stabilize the sub-base of the road, according to a report from Vermilion City Engineer Lynn Miggins. Sanford Street is the main road leading back into Vermilion’s Valleyview neighborhood and to Vermilion High School and Sailorway Middle School.
Before the work started, a consultant collected soil borings and prepared a geological report for the city for the Sanford Street reconstruction, Miggins said.
However, those tests did not reveal what contractor Herk Excavating Inc. would find when the pavement was removed, she said.
‘It became apparent that the existing road base was never properly stripped and much of the topsoil and farm crop left behind are prevalent throughout the entire road base,’ Miggins said in her report to council. The roadbase was wet clay filled with ‘organics,’ she said.
‘We were surprised to find the remnants of a vineyard, basically vines and plants that had been just sort of mowed over to put a road in,’ Miggins said.
Her report included photographs of black vines embedded in the clay. Normally the old plants would decompose, but they were sealed with little to no contact with oxygen in the air that would help the decomposition, Miggins said.
Herk Excavating will attempt to speed up the job but it was unclear if work would last until Vermilion students return to school Aug. 25.
Miggins’ estimate also includes $2,500 for additional signage to guide drivers around the neighborhood construction zone.
‘We had a number of paving projects that have been going on at once and it’s been a challenge for drivers to navigate the city on our many detours,’ Miggins said. ‘We’re just asking them to be patient. It’s going to be a number of neighborhoods that are really improved by virtue of having reconstructed or resurfaced roadways.’
Mayor Eileen Bulan said she hopes council approves the legislation on July 28.
‘We’ve never paved it,’ she said about Sanford Street. ‘It’s the original street from when Valleyview was built, I guess in the 1950s. If we’re going to repair it, we have to repair it right. Who knows when we’re going to do it again?’
