NEWRY – Selectmen decided Monday to go with contractor Steve Swasey’s higher bid for rebuilding the Sunday River Skiway Road this summer.

The owner of the Andover excavation business submitted two bids for the project, giving the town options on the scope of the work.

The higher one is $337,500 and will pay for milling the old surface, correcting the grade, repaving, ditching, erosion barriers, loaming, seeding and other work. The lower bid was $264,590.

Engineer Joe Aloisio told the board he didn’t think it was necessary to spend $3,000 to do test borings to determine if the existing road base is adequate.

“I have talked to Maine Test Boring about test borings along the road to see if we could save some money on gravel because Swasey’s alternate bid said it might be able to be done. But I don’t think it warrants hiring Maine Test Boring due to the condition of the road. I think we’ll end up with new gravel over the entire road anyway. I’m confident there’s 18 inches of gravel there now so we don’t need to add $3,000 to the cost by going with test boring,” Aloisio said.

He said he is going to negotiate a few changes in the final contract to include raising the grade in two areas to improve drainage and completing a short stretch of bike path near the Sunday River Inn.

The board went with Swasey’s higher bid because they said they want to be sure an adequate job is done.

Aloisio said the project is expected to start June 16.

In other business, Administrative Assistant Sylvia Gray told selectmen she has received checks from the state for tree growth reimbursement and the recently completed comprehensive plan for $91,000 and $3,585 respectively.

Gray said Newry’s share of the Tri-Town Solid Waste Agreement expenses equals 39.82 percent, which is up from 37 percent last year. Other towns in the cooperative are Bethel and Hanover.

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