Broken pavement at the intersection of Baldwin Avenue and Croix Street is pictured. The Negaunee City Council will consider bids from two contractors to repave the two blocks of Baldwin Avenue surrounding Croix Street which is in the process of being repaved to the U.S. 41 intersection. (Journal photo by Lisa Bowers)

NEGAUNEE — The Negaunee City Council during its regular meeting on Thursday will consider bids for the paving of two blocks of North Baldwin Avenue on either side of Croix Street.

Two bids were received for the work. Superior Paving came in at $50,850 and Hebert Construction bid the job at $84,488.

The request for bids opened at 1 p.m. Aug. 1, according to meeting documents.

The city staff recommendation, according to an agenda supplement, is to postpone the project because the city’s design projection for bids ranged between $20,000 and $25,000 for the paving work.

“The bids came double the projected price,” the supplement states, in part, “and (it is recommended) to wait until asphalt prices come back down next spring as a supply and demand for the rest of the season has driven prices very high.”

A project began in July to reconstruct Croix Street from Baldwin Avenue to U.S. 41 including pavement removal, and the installation of concrete pavement, curb and gutter, concrete sidewalk, storm sewer, aggregate base and other related work.

The Croix Street project was funded through a $629,000 grant from the Michigan Department of Transportation, issued through the United States Department of Transportation. The grant required a city match of $32,458.

The council will also consider an appointment to the WPPI Energy board. WPPI is a regional power company serving 51 locally owned, not-for-profit electric utilities in Wisconsin, the Upper Peninsula and Iowa, according to its website.