City selects Al’s Asphalt Paving for work on High, Liberty streets

At a special, 16-minute meeting on April 8, the Belleville City Council unanimously selected low-bidder Al’s Asphalt Paving Co. of Taylor to do upgrades to High and Liberty streets.
There were eight bidders and the bids were opened at 2 p.m., April 8, and then the city’s consulting engineers, Hennessey, reviewed the bids and the bidders and recommended Al’s Asphalt.
The bidders were:
• Al’s Asphalt Paving Co., $587,356;
• Florence Cement Co., $668,148;
• T&M Asphalt Paving, $689,639;
• R&R Asphalt, $692,935.50;
• Asphalt Specialists, Inc., $695,850;
• Cadillac Asphalt, $702,966;
• Site Supply, Inc., $713,012; and
• Nagle Paving Co., $754,073.
City manager Jason Smith said Al’s Asphalt will begin work on May 1 on High Street and will only mill and cap the street and reroute the catch basin that floods. That work will be done before Lakefest and the lakeside concerts begin, he said.
Al’s then will mill down Liberty Street and another company will be hired to replace the water main. There is 9 to 10 inches of concrete under the asphalt and the new company will have to spot cut to get through that, he said.
Then, Al’s will return to cap the street with asphalt, Smith said.
Mayor pro-tem Kelly Bates, who was chairing the meeting in the absence of mayor Ken Voigt, asked about specific dates of the work.
Smith said he didn’t know, but there would be a spring start and High Street would be done before summer and Liberty by the end of summer. Later he found in the paperwork that Al’s would start High Street on May 1.
Councilwoman Julie Kissel said that since the city’s fire station is on Liberty Street, they may have to temporarily place the fire engines elsewhere to serve the community or to ask Van Buren Township to serve the community for them for two days.
Smith said they will be having a pre-construction meeting and all those things will be addressed.
“We have to get a permit from EGLE before we start, since we’re working close to the lake,” Smith said, referring to the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy.
The council discussed different possibilities for dealing with the traffic tie-ups possible with the closing of High Street for its work and later Liberty Street and how people will get in and out of the shopping center next to the bridge.