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South Street bid awarded to Vermont contractor

MILFORD – A Vermont general contractor has been chosen for Milford’s longawaited South Street project. Kingsbury Cos. of Waitsfield, Vt., submitted the lower of two bids.

Work will likely begin in April or May, with completion scheduled for September, Town Administrator Mark Bender said in an email. "The schedule will be confirmed when the bid is formally awarded and we have construction meetings," he said. Federal funding is paying for 80 percent of the cost, with Milford covering the rest.

Although Kingsbury’s bid was $90,000 over the town engineer’s estimate of $700,000, Bender told selectmen last week that there will be no need to go back to voters for more money. The state Department of Transportation and the Nashua Regional Planning Commission advised that the balance can come from money already appropriated for the South Street and Oval improvement projects. Planning of the road widening and beautification project started about 10 years ago, and there have been several delays over the years.

Along with road widening, it involves moving utilities underground and installing new sidewalks, curbs and period lighting. Some of the delays had involved acquiring easements from public utilities and property owners. When the project went out to bid last year, only one came in, and it was double the estimate. The area to be improved goes from Union Square south to the railroad rightof- way.

"It’s probably one of the worst roads in town, and it leads right into the Oval," Selectmen’s Chairman Mark Bender said.