Saint John is seeing “significant” increases in the cost of asphalt for roadway maintenance.
Council recently awarded a tender to supply asphalt for pothole patching and other surface repairs.
City staff budgeted around $550,000 for the work, according to the transportation and public works commissioner.
But Michael Hugenholtz said prices have increased by around 30 per cent compared to last year.
“I suspect this is part of a much larger trend not only in asphalt prices but in a lot of areas as well,” said Hugenholtz.
“I think, across the country really, we’re seeing quite a bit of inflation, more than we’ve seen in recent years.”
Hugenholtz said as a result of the increase, they may have to reduce the amount of their asphalt overlay program.
“That’s the program that we use for some of the roads that are in very poor condition. Rather than patch a whole bunch of potholes in one area, we’ll put a lift of asphalt over the entire area,” he said.
But Hugenholtz said they are not at the point of reducing the program just yet, adding they will look at the overall budget to see if some cost savings can be identified.
He said the city also has other roadway maintenance programs, including its larger asphalt resurfacing program.
That tender, which is expected to come before council Tuesday night, is coming in nearly $400,000 higher than budgeted, according to a staff report.
When comparing the 2021 tendered unit price for the placement of asphalt with the 2022 tendered unit price the cost to the city has increased by approximately 48%,” said the report.
“Other unit prices in the 2022 tenders for items incidental to paving have also seen some significant price increases.”
The budget, according to Hugenholtz, is around $6.5 million. Staff is recommending that council accept the low tenderer, Galbraith Construction Ltd., at just over $7 million.
The contract includes all work associated with the resurfacing of 28 streets or segments of streets, equalling nearly 44 lane kilometres.
It includes more than 23,000 tonnes of hot-mix asphalt, along with the installation of around 11,715 lineal metres of concrete curb and 1,960 lineal metres of sidewalk.
