DERRY — The town is moving forward with paving an 800-foot stretch of Manning Street, even though it's going to cost $45,000 more than the Town Council budgeted for the project.
Public Works Director Michael Fowler told the council that the cheapest of five bids the town received for the project was $125,000. The project was originally approved for $80,000 last September.
The price of asphalt has reached $600 a ton, which is to blame for the dramatic jump in price. The price has skyrocketed in recent years, but town officials never planned the price would get so high, according to Alan Cote, the town's highway superintendent.
"It's so heavily dependent on energy and petroleum products that we're in such a dire position," Cote said.
Town Administrator Gary Stenhouse will move the money within the Highway Department's budget to pay for the project.
Cote gave the council some options possibly to trim the cost, like changing the curbing on the roadway, not installing lights on the sidewalks or reducing the asphalt used on the road, but that would only have trimmed about $34,000 from the total cost.
The council decided that if they were going to move forward with paving the road, the road should have the same look as the rest of the downtown area for safety and aesthetic reasons.
"If we're going to do this road, we have to have the lights out there," Councilor Brent Carney said, noting the lights are important to help people using the bike path remain safe.
The road will be 24 feet wide and there will be a 10-foot-wide paved bike path. The street will also have decorative lighting similar to what already exists in the downtown.
The paving project was scheduled for completion last fiscal year but after a harsh winter, Fowler told the council last month that it would have to be pushed off until this year's budget. The project should be completed in August and September.
When the council approved the paving last September, several residents who live in the area spoke out against the project, saying the dirt path is regularly used by children and families. They said the new road would create traffic and safety problems, while proponents of the road said it would help to ease traffic downtown.
