MADISON TOWNSHIP ─ Rising prices for materials may result in fewer roads being repaved in Madison Township this year, based upon a trustees’ special meeting on Monday afternoon.

The project, bid out in June, has an estimate of about $152,000, Trustee Cathy Swank said. The trustees opened the lone bid on July 6 from Kokosing Construction Co. with a price of $185,200.50, which is 20 percent over the estimate.

On Monday, Swank said Richland County prosecutor’s office did not approve the bid because the price was well over the estimate. As a result, the township will have to rebid the project, eliminating some roads and start the work when the weather still permits.

The board then voted to reject Kokosing’s bid with Trustee Dan Fletcher absent. 

Chairman Trustee Jim Houser said the biggest issue the township ran into is the cost of materials, which has gone “up and up and up and up.” The bidder estimated that the price of asphalt alone would be close to $166,000, which is higher than what county engineer Adam Gove projected for the whole program, the chairman said.

The bid price was more than Madison Township can afford, Houser said. He has looked over the 11 roads that the trustees had approved to be paved in early June and suggested to eliminate part of them.

According to Houser, the roads that could be removed from the project are as follows:

— Mayer Drive: from Mansfield Lucas Road to the dead end (estimated cost $8,400)

— Evergreen Avenue: east from McElroy Road to Burgraff Drive (estimated cost $12,300)

— Evergreen Avenue: west from McElroy Road to Madison Trailer park (estimated cost $ 6,300)

— All parts of Burgraff Road (estimated cost $2,550)

Houser said the estimate would decrease by roughly $30,000 if the township removed the above roads from the project.

The following roads would still be paved this year:   

— Martha Avenue: from State Route 430 South to Erhart Drive  

— Bahl Avenue: south to Hickory Lane

— Erhart Drive: between Martha Avenue and Bahl Avenue

— Lee Lane: from State Route 430 to Grace Street

— Vernon Road: from State Route 430 to Grace Street

— Bonnie Drive: from State Route 39 to Ridge Road

— Yale Avenue: from Stewart Road to the mobile home park.

Swank said she doesn’t disagree with any of the adjustments. Houser said the township will have Gove review the updated project and double-check the estimate. Then the trustees will vote and bid out the project.

Some residents questioned Houser’s choice of keeping Martha and Bahl Avenues, which are both not heavily used, in the program.

The chairman said multiple manholes and catch basins on the two roads need to be worked on, and the township has ignored those projects for years.