Contractor chosen to rebuild Silver Beach Road

By MITCH MAERSCH

Ozaukee Press staff

The Belgium Town Board on Monday selected a contractor to reconstruct its portion of Silver Beach Road.

About one mile of road will be rebuilt from Highway LL to the railroad tracks.

The town received a Town Road Improvement Grant last spring for $694,000, which will cover about 70% of the project’s estimated cost.

The town’s portion of the cost will be around $300,000.

Two companies from Eden had submitted bids, and the board chose Denny Rahn Excavating Inc., whose bid came in at nearly $480,000.

The other bid was from Baumhardt Sand & Gravel for about $612,000.

Supr. Bill Janeshek went over the details of each company’s bid since the town opened the bids on April 3.

The biggest differences he found were in the cost of two road-building materials.

For pit run — a type of crushed rock used to fill in roads — Denny Rahn is charging $11.52 per ton while Baumhart is charging $18.65 per ton.

Janeshek said he asked someone from Baumhardt about the price difference and was told that the company planned to use a different type of pit run than the regular material.

For 1.25-inch traffic bond — limestone used as a road base — Denny Rahn is charging $17.36 per ton and Baumhardt is charging $22.43 per ton. Janeshek said he believes that difference is in the trucking cost.

The amounts were bid on quantities the town estimated it will use for the road.

“Each gravel truck we’ll have tickets for. We’re going to be paying for the gravel that’s coming out there,” he said, adding that if more gravel is required costs will go up.

Hence the $479,000, he said, is not set in stone.

If the town needs more pit run, it will be locked in at $17.36 per ton.

“That’s why we did a unit price and we did our best guess on how much material we’re going to use,” Janeshek said.

“Based on these prices, we were very happy on the numbers,” he added.

“Shocked is the word I would use,” Chairman Tom Winker said.

“I was happy that we got two bids. I was glad that we didn’t have eight. This was enough for me to look through. We don’t have to go back and tell eight people that we chose somebody else,” Janeshek said.

The board doesn’t have a projected start date but it knows contractors will want to wait until the ground dries so they don’t work in the mud.

The deadline to finish is not in question.

“The dates of completion are spelled out. The majority of the work has to be done by the end of August and it has to be completed by the end of September,” Janeshek said.

The road will be closed during reconstruction. Janeshek said he will have the Ozaukee County Highway Department make a “Road Closed” sign.

Winker suggested also closing Alder Road, a north/south roadway that intersects with the portion of Silver Beach Road to be reconstructed.

“The nosey people are still going to get in,” Winker said.

“It’s easier if you’ve got 10 less cars nosing through,” Supr. Tom Bichler said.

Janeshek said the road will not be open at night for emergency vehicles. They will know they can’t get through.

The road is expected to be closed from May through October.

The town hopes to put a binder coat on in October, which will allow the road to reopen.

Plans are to put a top coat of asphalt next spring. Waiting before putting on the top coat allows time to fix dips in the road as materials settle over winter.

Paving the road will require another bidding process.

The town expects paving to cost about $300,000.

Anything more than the $694,000 in grant funding “is town money,” Winker said.

Janeshek will deliver a notice of award for the contract and Denny Rahn Excavating will have to give the town a performance bond, which guarantees the town will have the money to finish the work in case the company doesn’t complete the job.

A bid bond was included in the bids, meaning the town would get some money if a company pulls out after bidding.

Silver Beach Road leads into the Village of Belgium’s industrial park and paving it has been discussed for decades, but other projects took priority. Village officials have made the case that paving the road would be an economic boon, drawing more companies to the park and allow expansion of those already there.

It would also keep semi trucks off of Main Street, the detour route for those who don’t want to drive on a gravel road.

Engineering work on the project was done several years ago, but issues in acquiring land for a retention pond slowed progress, so reconstructing Main Street moved ahead of paving Silver Beach.

The job has since been deemed too expensive, with the village inching too close to its debt limit to take it on without significant grant funding.

The town’s project only covers the town portion of the work. The village’s grant application was not approved so it won’t be paving its part.