Village Trying New Asphalt Material for Lockport St.

When the village resurfaces downtown Lockport Street this fall, it will be using a new material designed to permeate the asphalt rather than just cover it.

The end result is the street will look newly paved, public works officials said.

The Plainfield Village Board signed off on using the liquid asphaltic pavement maintenance product known as GSB-88 at a cost of $24,139. The low bid -- and only bid -- was submitted by American Road Maintentance of Itasca.

The only trustee to vote against the contract was Garrett Peck, who said he did not like that only one bidder of the three that had expressed interest submitted a proposal.

Randy Jessen, superintendent of public works, said it's not surprising there might only be one bid in a situation in which a relatively new product is being tried. The bid came in just under the $25,000 the village had budgeted for the work.

In order to inconvenience the least amount of people, the work will be done on a Sunday morning, likely from 6 a.m. to noon or 2 p.m. depending on curing time. Only one lane between Route 59 and Route 126 will be closed at one time so traffic is not completely disrupted, officials said.

Crack sealing will be done ahead of time, but should not cause any major interruptions in traffic flow.

If the material works well and holds up over time, the village may consider using it in other parts of town, Public Works Director Allen Persons said. The treatment can only be used on asphalt that is three to five years old, Jessen said.

For more information, contact Jessen or Scott Threewitt at 815-436-3577.