Grant money is helping Arnold resurface four streets this year at a combined cost of more than $540,000.
The city has told two contractors it plans to award them contracts for the work, according to engineer Mark Gera of Gibson-Thomas Engineering.
“We’ll be paving in a couple weeks,” he said.
The four streets — Rankin, Richmond, Moore and Drey — were broken into three separate contracts because each has its own funding source, Gera said.
Derry Construction was the low bidder for two of the three contracts. The company’s price for all of Richmond is $197,010; its price for Drey, from Third Avenue to Dr. Thomas Boulevard, and Moore, from Constitution Boulevard to Woodmont Avenue, is $169,775.
Independent Enterprises was the low bidder for Rankin Street, from Constitution to Woodmont, at $174,300. Gera did not know if council would include an alternate for curb ramps, at an additional cost of $51,200.
Council is expected to vote on awarding the contracts at its Sept. 14 meeting. If approved, Gera said notices for the companies to proceed could go out the next day.
Gera said the money to pay for Richmond comes from the Community Development Block Grant program. Money for Drey and Moore is coming from H2O PA, and Rankin is covered by a grant from the Multimodal Transportation Fund, city Manager Mario Bellavia said.
For CDBG funding, Gera said it usually takes Arnold two to three years of receiving those funds before there’s enough to do a paving program. In this case, Arnold was fortunate enough to get additional grant funding.
“It’s like three times what normally would happen,” he said. “That’s because the grants were available.”
