Marion buys paving machine

Marion buys paving machine

Taking street repairs in- house ‘ the thing to do,’ says mayor

news@theeveningtimes.com

Marion has purchased a slightly used asphalt paver which will save the city about $20 to $25 per ton on the cost of asphalt.

The city council passed a resolution waiving competitive bidding to allow them to purchase a 2012 LeeBoy 8515 asphalt paver from Cox Paving in Bald Knob for $130,000.

“We think it is the thing to do,” said Mayor Frank Fogleman.

Road Supervisor Gordon Floyd said the machine only has 123 hours on it and that the city got a really good deal.

“He was doing a state job and one of his pavers broke down,” Floyd said. “He went and bought this one and when he got his other paver fixed he decided to sell this one. He was using it as a back-up.”

A new asphalt paving machine costs about $210,000. “We saved almost $100,000,” Floyd said. “This thing has no hours on it. It’s a pretty nice machine.”

Floyd said the new paving machine will allow them to do most of the city’s paving work in-house rather than having to bid street work out.

“I’d say we will be able to do at least 90 percent,” Floyd said.

The city recently resurfaced Shoppingway to Sonic and paved Willow Street by the Police Department and has been doing a lot of smaller jobs around Marion.

Floyd said the city gets criticized for some of the work it has done resurfacing streets, but added that they were using a 1971 paving machine which was intended for small parking lot jobs.

The new machine has laser level-ups and laser crownups.

“We were using a 1971 LeeBoy. This is a 2012 Lee- Boy,” Floyd said. “The difference is like night and day. It doesn’t leave much to the imagination. We have been overlaying as much as 200 to 250 tons a day. This paver is capable of laying much more than that.”

Floyd said a technician from the dealership in Little Rock and from Cox paving will be coming out to Marion to train city workers on the new asphalt laying machine.

“They agreed to send their people down to show us the ropes,” Floyd said. “They will probably be here sometime after the 4th of July.”

The city may put the machines to use right away.

Marion is waiting to open bids to resurface L.H. Polk, Carter Drive, and Rica Road by Marion High School.

“There is a good chance we may do Carter,” Floyd said. “It just depends what the bids are and what the council decides, whether they want APAC to do it.”

By Mark Randall