Ponders Bovie Hill Road Project
by Alex Brooks
The Hoosick Town Board held a brief special meeting on Monday evening June 1 to discuss how to handle the collapsed section of Bovie Hill Road. It has received a report from its consulting engineer Wayne Bonesteel detailing what needs to be done to rebuild the road. The report estimates the cost of this work at approximately $240,000, which Supervisor Mark Surdam said was significantly higher than he expected.
Surdam is uncomfortable trying to fit this sum into the budget and has sought advice from Bonesteel about how to deal with the situation less expensively. At the same time, he expressed a feeling of urgency about fixing the road, which has been closed by emergency order. At the start of the meeting, he said, “we need to get this moving forward.”
Bonesteel has responded with advice on how to get the project done for less money, by breaking up the project into smaller pieces, using local contractors for some of it and the Town highway crew for as much of it as possible. His updated plan suggests that it could be done for about $130,000.
One area where savings might be achieved is to find a place close to the site where excavated material could be put, to avoid the cost of trucking it away. The Board asked Highway Superintendent Bill Shiland to see if such a site could be found.
The Board was enthusiastic about hiring local contractors, both because they might be able to get the work done sooner and because it might save the town money, with the added benefit that it would help the local economy. But to facilitate that, the Board has to structure the bids and contracts in a way that makes the participation of local contractors feasible. Surdam said he plans a conference call between himself, Highway Superintendent Bill Shiland, and Town Attorney Jonathan Schopf to talk about how to do that.
Surdam said if some of this work is to be done on the County contract, the contractor would be Fane. He said he or Shiland would call Fane to see what their schedule looks like and when they might be able to come work in Hoosick.
Surdam said he hopes to put together some kind of a plan for Town Board approval at next week’s meeting so that the work (or portions of the work) can be put out for bids and contractors can be hired and scheduled as soon as possible.