Although it’s not set in stone, the City of Bridgeport has a tentative list of streets that will soon see a fresh coat of asphalt and others that will see concrete repairs. The upgrades to the critical infrastructure was recently approved by the Bridgeport City Council and that means more than $500,000 in improvements will be taking place in the upcoming weeks.

 

“We’ll have the pre-construction meeting (held this week) and the intent is to get the asphalt paving done prior to school starting and as much concrete work done as possible,” said Bridgeport City Engineer Tom Brown. “I’m confident we’ll have the asphalt done, but I think the concrete work will continue after school starts.”

 

The ability for Brown to get things going came as the result of the June 13 Council meeting. At that session, the city’s governing body approved two contracts – one for the paving and one for the concrete work – that will allow for the upgrades.

 

Parrotta Paving Company Inc. was awarded the work for concrete street, sidewalk and curb projects in the amount of $234,083.42, along with a 10 percent contingency. The company’s bid was almost $40,000 less than the next lowest bidder.

 

Bear Contracting won the asphalt milling and resurfacing contract. The company had a bid of $315,308.25 plus a 10 percent contingency.

 

While the process to choose the contractors is standard, some may wonder how city streets are chosen for repair. The streets on the annual list for upgrades – listed at end of story – isn’t done randomly.

 

“When I first came to work for the city we made an inventory of all the city streets and made a ratings system for the streets. From there, we prioritized the repairs needs based on a rating system,” said Brown. “On the asphalt paving side of things, we have a 13-year schedule that we look at for having every street redone.”

 

That doesn’t mean that your street will be done right at 13 years from the last time it was done, but that it should be done at a minimum of every 13 years. Brown said some roads under the city’s jurisdiction receive heavy usage – such as the Meadowbrook Mall road – that gets done on a quicker rotation.

 

“There are always pluses and minuses and we want the community to be aware of the possibility that a street can change in priority based on a number of things from additional or less usage or sudden deterioration,” said Brown. “The system, to date, has worked out pretty well on the asphalt paving schedule.”

 

In recent years, Brown said concrete streets have seen more attention. And he said that is possible thanks to City Council frequently allocating “one-time” funds to those repairs.

 

“When we first started Council began to approve additional funds to meet the schedule that was set up and its’ been effective since then. The one-time dollars are really helpful on the concrete streets, which can change from year to year,” said Brown.

 

The one-time dollars Brown is referring to are budget surplus dollars Council is asked to allocate at the end of successful fiscal years. Other funds, and a large portion of the funds for the work, is the result of levy dollars approved by residents in Bridgeport.

 

Brown said this year’s rather large total was also boosted by another source. He said money from projects done in house – such as a storm drainage project on Third Street a few years earlier and a Thompson Drive lighting project – was diverted to these programs for city roadways.

 

“We’re appreciative of Council for seeing this as important to the residents and we hope to make a difference. We hope to do all the streets listed this year, but as always, we want people to know they’re tentative as something could come up that changes what we have to address immediately against something that can wait another year,” Brown said.

 

The following are the tentative list of streets set to be addressed.

 

TENTATIVE CONCRETE STREET, SIDEWALK AND CURB LISTING

CONCRETE STREETS

Archwood Avenue

E. Shannon Road 1

Driftwood Road

Garden Circle

State Street

Valley Drive

Westwood Avenue

CONCRETE SIDEWALKS

Newton Avenue 1

James Street

CONCRETE CURBS

Willis Avenue

ADDITIONAL STREETS AND SIDEWALKS

CONCRETE STREETS

E. Shannon Road 2

Ridgeway Drive 1

Ridgeway Drive 2

CONCRETE SIDEWALKS

Hall Street

Orchard Avenue

CONCRETE CURB

Newton Avenue 2

 

Editor's Note: Top photos shows asphalt paving projects in recent years taking place, while City Engineer Tom Brown is shown below.