APAC Mississippi was awarded a $637,605.04 bid Tuesday by the Vicksburg Board of Mayor and Aldermen, minus Mayor Paul Winfield, to overlay portions of Clay Street and Wisconsin Avenue — work that will begin in March.

The work is to be paid for with the $947,635 in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act stimulus funds allocated to the city in March. Clay Street is to be repaved from Cherry Street to Mission 66, while Wisconsin Avenue will be overlaid from Interstate 20 to Bazinsky Road.

APAC was the only company to submit a bid on the work, and Public Works Director Bubba Rainer said he was surprised it came in as low as it did. Rainer previously speculated the work would cost more than the city was awarded in stimulus funds, and it would have to use State Transportation Improvement Program funds allocated by MDOT — which require a 20 percent local contribution — to supplement the paving projects.  

Engineering firm Mendrop Wages, which designed the plans for the work, had estimated the job would cost $718,790. Rainer said the city’s stimulus funds will also be used to pay for engineering, testing and design work affiliated with the overlaying projects, so it is unlikely there will be any left over. 

A third paving project on Indiana Avenue, from South Frontage Road to the city limits, was originally to be included in the stimulus work. However, it was dropped from the plan by the mayor and aldermen in November due to concerns about encroachment issues having to do with mailboxes they feared could delay the project too long and could jeopardize stimulus funding. Instead, Rainer said the city intends to do the Indiana Avenue work with other funds at a later date.

Winfield said this morning he was in Dallas on personal business.

Winfield’s absence left North Ward Alderman Michael Mayfield and South Ward Alderman Sid Beauman to approve the bid.

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Contact Steve Sanoski at ssanoski@vicksburgpost.com