MEDFORD, Ore. (AP) — The cheapest bid to resurface an Oregon city’s roads came in nearly $2 million under the traditional cost, but drivers are already complaining about a bumpy ride.
The Medford Mail Tribune reports (http://bit.ly/p6OeQb ) the city of Medford, Ore., paid a contractor $825,000 to resurface portions of city streets with low-cost cape seal.
The city’s road engineer said traditional repaving would have cost about $2.5 million.
But the tradeoff is that asphalt is much thinner than usual, only a half-inch thick.
The city is trying to cut road costs by about 50 percent.
The city made the cuts in part because of the rising cost of asphalt. The price of asphalt has risen from $50 per pound in several years ago to $70 per pound today.
