ASHLAND — The city of Ashland is accepting bids for its summer street resurfacing project, which proposes repaving 72 streets in all four of the city’s wards.
(Below is a document showing the 72 streets the city hopes to resurface.)
The list remains subject to change.
Mayor Matt Miller told city council Tuesday the project has an estimated cost of $2 million.
“This will be one of the biggest years with local pavement dollars,” Miller said.
An income tax levy voters first approved in 2016, then reapproved in 2020, funds the city’s resurfacing projects.
In the past, the city’s repaving efforts have also been helped by state grants and other moneys. Repaving Claremont Avenue and parts of Sandusky Street, for example, were funded using federal dollars from the American Rescue Plan Act.
“I believe one lane mile of asphalt is estimated to cost about $130,000 these days,” Miller said. “… I believe we have 220 lane miles in the city, and we’re chiseling away at that. We’ve actually already completed more than 146 miles of resurfacing in the city.”
Miller said this year’s repaving project would cover about 24 lane miles.
But, he told council he hopes putting the project out to bid early will result in more competition for the work, and a better price.
Miller said historically, the project has gone out to bid later in the year, which means fewer contractors have bid on it. Last year’s street resurfacing project went out for bids in April. The city received two bids on the project.
Another benefit of putting the project out to bid earlier could be an earlier start date on the work. In 2023, resurfacing began in October, and in 2024, it didn’t get underway until September.
He credited council’s earlier-than-usual passage of the city’s budget with the ability to put the project out sooner than usual.
