County approves road resurfacing projects

Lorain County commissioners have approved legislation to initiate work on two separate road resurfacing projects.

On Nov. 25, the county commissioners unanimously voted to award a $785,886.50 contract to Erie Blacktop, of Sandusky, to begin work on the Butternut Ridge resurfacing project.

The federal aid project, re-estimated to cost approximately $840,000, calls for the resurfacing of asphalt from Lagrange Road to Grafton Road.

The commissioners had decided to re-advertise for bids on Oct. 29 after engineering officials reported that their original project estimate of $630,000 had increased.

“We realized that we were a little bit short on funding once we actually assessed how much work needed to be done to the asphalt berms,” county Chief Deputy Engineer Bill Holtzman previously said. “(Northeast Ohio Area Coordinating Agency) agreed to cover 80 percent of our original estimate, but when costs escalated, so did our total project cost.”

Holtzman said work on the project is currently scheduled to start in the spring and will most likely wrap up by July 1.

Commissioners also voted to enter into a limited partnership agreement with the Ohio Department of Transportation to oversee the design, bidder qualifications, construction and inspection of Elyria-Oberlin roads resurfacing project.

The project, which calls for asphalt resurfacing from Butternut Ridge Road to state Route 511, is currently estimated to cost $1.2 million, according to Holtzman.

He added, however, that although the commissioners agreed to enter into the agreement with ODOT, work on the Elyria-Oberlin Road resurfacing project will not begin until summer 2019.

Eighty percent of the total costs of both projects are set to be paid for by NOACA. The county will cover the remaining 20 percent of the projects with the aid of Ohio Public Works contributions.