AHOSKIE – The Ahoskie Town Council at a follow-up to their August monthly meeting unanimously approved a resolution awarding the bid of $1,782,837 to local Rose Brothers Paving Company as part of the town’s Street Improvement Project.

The bid was awarded on Aug. 15.

At the original deadline of Aug. 5, only one bid had been received, so the project was re-bid as required by the state of North Carolina. However, after the second re-bid, it doesn’t matter if a single bid is received, it must be awarded.

The Wooten Company, since 2014, had selected streets in Ahoskie with the highest priority for improvement based on use, condition, age and cost. Their latest recommendations were reviewed by Town Manager Tony Hammond and Public Works Director Kirk Rogers.

The town’s proposal then gained approval from the Local Government Commission (LGC); since street improvements are considered real property their approval was required. The town had considered financing the project through either the Department of Agriculture (USDA) or commercial sources (Southern Bank, BB&T, and PNC).

In the end USDA approved a loan of $1,847,000.

Hammond provided a map to Council showing (in red) the streets to be paved.

“They did not completely use all the funding available in this project,” Hammond said at the Aug. 9 Council meeting. “They had initially come in with a project to completely redo First Street from Academy to Catherine Creek Road. We requested they remove that portion of the work out of the project because within the next two years when the overpass on US-13 is begun, First Street would be used (by DOT) as a route around Ahoskie for trucks. If we put money into improving First Street and they use it as a route around it would probably tear up what we had done.”

Portions of three streets: the north end of Ruritan Street; the north End of Mitchell Street at the corner of McKinley Street; and, South Street from Colony Street to Circle Drive, which were not considered in as poor condition, were removed from the ‘urgent’ list.

Three other streets were added: a portion of Pembroke Street from Stokes Street to Raleigh Street; Pineridge Road in its entirety; and, Church Street from Academy to Curtis Street.

“There may be additional streets added based on funding,” Hammond added.

Council members at the earlier meeting said they were pleased with the pace at which the improvements project has progressed.

“Put something in (the newspaper) like ‘Coming Soon’,” said Councilman Rev. C. David Stackhouse. “We need for people in our communities to know that something good is coming their way. People aren’t complaining, they just want some information.”

Rogers informed the Council that before some streets can be paved, underground utility work will have to be done.

“Is that just an unfortunate nature of our runoff lines, that any road we put down at any time is subject to have to be torn up and patched up to fix leaks,” asked Councilman Justin Freeman.

“There are a few streets where we are going to have to replace water lines,” Rogers noted. “We’re working to put them outside the curbing.”

Back at the Aug. 23 meeting, a motion was made to award the contract and complete the necessary paperwork. The motion passed unanimously.

Hammond said adjustments in the project could necessitate change orders, but for no more than the $1,847,000 approved by USDA and the LGC.

In a separate contract, North Carolina DOT awarded Rose Brothers Paving the work on milling and repaving Ahoskie’s Main Street.

That work, which will result in the short-term closure of portions of Main Street, is scheduled to begin on Monday, Aug. 29 and end on Friday, Sept. 2. Milling and repaving work will be performed on Main Street from Academy Street to Catherine Creek Road.

Ahoskie’s Main Street is maintained by NC DOT.