LEONARDTOWN, Md. – On Tuesday, March 5th, the members of the Saint Mary’s County Board of County Commissioners approved of new asphalt overlay projects. The contract authorizing the projects allocates over $1 million for 89 projects, this funding will extend into the first fiscal half of 2025.
The contract was given to asphalt company Holcim-MAR for a price of $3,494,300. They will have the job of redoing almost 30 miles of county roads. This is their third year in a row receiving the contract.
Four companies, including Holcim, put in a bid for the contract. The other companies included F.O. Day, CA Bean, and Great Mills Trading Post. Holcim’s bid was significantly cheaper than the others with a price roughly $500,000 lower than the highest bid.
Some of the commissioners were curious as to the reason why Holcim-MAR was given the contract. Commissioner Mike Hewitt was also curious as to how they were able to keep their price so low compared to the other three bidders.
In response, Procurement Manager/Contracting Officer Brandon Hayden replied that Holcim-MAR is a worldwide company with an asphalt plant located in Waldorf, which lowered manufacturing costs.
According to Jim Gotsch, Director of the Department of Public Works and Transportation, a pavement study is conducted to find out which roads are in most need of paving.
“So this is a list of roads that came up based on the ranking of the pavement. If your road is in worse condition that section gets paved, not the entire section.”
To see the full list of proposed asphalt overlay projects for calendar year 2024, click here.
To watch the full 3/5/24 commissioner meeting, click here.
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