It’s back to the drawing board for Justice regarding a pavement and drainage project for 75th Street.
At the most recent meeting, the village board unanimously rejected bids for the work that would stretch down 75th Street from Cork Avenue to Garden Lane. Cork Avenue is also known as 88th Avenue.
It came down to simple economics.
“Actually, it was just too much money. The bids came in way too high,” Village Trustee Jeff Allen said after the meeting on Dec. 22.
There was no debate or discussion about the issue during the board meeting. Allen chairs the board’s public utilities and infrastructure committee.
“So, we’re going to re-do it,” he said of the bid process. They’lll take the middle of the street out and redo it.”
The original plan was to do repaving and drainage for the entire width of the street or “curb to curb” as Allen said.
Public Works Director Joe Cekus said, “it’s a big project, but we have to change the scope of the work because the bids are tremendously high.”
How high is too high?
Well, the village estimated bids would be around $1.5 million for the work. But the bids that were submitted rolled in about twice that or $3 million and more.
And that’s more money than the village wants to spend.
“We checked the base (of the street). The base is good. So, we’re just going to overlay,” Cekus said. “It’s just a narrow section.”
Cekus said that Justice officials were “kind of shocked” when “some of the bids were over $3 million.”
“A little high,” Allen deadpanned.
Meanwhile, village officials are running out of patience with IDOT for roadwork on 79th Street and Archer near the village hall, a project that seemingly has no end in sight.
And with winter here, they don’t expect much work to be done in the coming months.
At board meetings, Mayor Kris Wasowicz has often expressed frustration over the work – or lack of work – on the project