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Fairgrounds parking area to be paved soon |
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April 2, 2016 |
One aspect of visiting the fairgrounds will soon
become a lot simpler and easier: parking.
With the current parking lot's gravel and dust,
occasional potholes, low areas that accumulate
large pools of water following a rainfall, and
its rather random and congested parking
arrangement during big and busy events, paving
the area should be a welcome improvement.
The county commissioners have been considering
paving the large fairgrounds parking area for
some time. Last fall the commission put out a
request for bids on the project. Two bids were
received, one from Wood's Crushing and Hauling
for close to $52,000, and the other from
Interstate Asphalt for a little over $49,000.
The bids were reviewed last November, and the
commissioners voted to accept the lower bid from
Interstate Asphalt, with the stipulation that
the work was to be done in 2016.
Details of the project are close to being
finalized, and depending on weather and
availability of crews from Boundary County Road
and Bridge to complete some preliminary work and
site preparation, should begin sometime this
spring.
"The county has some work to do ahead of the
actual paving," said Lanny Beck, lead estimator
for the Sandpoint office of Interstate Asphalt.
"Usually a project like this would start
sometime in May."
According to Mike Meier, Boundary County Public
Information Officer, the county's preliminary
work will include hauling in gravel and initial
site preparation. Interstate Asphalt's Mr. Beck
said the county's site preparation will include
initial shoulder work, ditching, placement of
base rock, and other preparation.
"In addition," said Mr. Meier, "There is
communication with the City of Bonners Ferry to
discuss improvements of the dewatering pump and
the addition of a catch basin to help facilitate
drainage. Hopefully it can be accomplished prior
to paving the parking lot."
The area to be paved will be quite large.
Interstate Asphalt's bid materials specify
paving of 42,775 square feet, which is right at
a full acre of paving. This would include paving
all areas from the Fairgrounds Arena, out to and
including the large parking area east of the
children's playground area, and tying into the
existing paving of Bonner Street (which is the
street that runs from downtown to the
Fairgrounds).
Once all preliminary work is done, the actual
paving itself would take a couple of days,
according to Mr. Beck. He also mentioned that
with their crew and all their paving equipment
in the area during that period, it would be a
good and convenient time to take on and complete
other paving projects in Boundary County, if
anyone wants to contact them about other
individual paving projects.
After all the Fairgrounds paving is completed,
some striping and marking work will be done for
parking spaces, handicap areas, and fire lanes.
(Story continues below this
photograph)
Interstate Concrete and Asphalt started in Coeur
d'Alene in 1986, and currently has offices in
Rathdrum and in Sandpoint, with other facilities
in Dover, Hayden, and in Elk, Washington. The
Sandpoint office is in charge of the Boundary
County Fairgrounds paving. Interstate Asphalt
works in aggregates, ready-mixed concrete,
asphalt, paving, and road construction. The
company has recently been involved in the
Sandpoint bypass road project, paving at
Kootenai Medical Center in Coeur d'Alene, work
on paving U.S. Highway 95 near Sandpoint, and
other projects.
Interstate Concrete was acquired in 1997 by
Oldcastle, Inc., the North American arm of the
Irish company CRH, PLC. Oldcastle is North
America's largest manufacturer of building
products and materials. The company has
approximately 40,000 employees throughout the
United States.
Boundary County Road and Bridge will be busy
this spring with other projects, also. "Other
things on the spring agenda for Road and Bridge
are brushing, ditch cleaning, grading, and
sweeping of roads," said Mr. Meier. "We have
some scheduled minor repairs for bridges and
some sign work. New guardrail will be installed
on the Cow Creek Road this year from the city
limits to the proximity of Kent's Gulch." Clint
Kimball is Superintendent of Boundary County
Road and Bridge.
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