Tinley Park roadways will be marked by paint, rather than a thermoplastic substance, in a move intended to cut costs while extending surface-image life.
Village trustees Tuesday unanimously agreed to begin with the stretch of 183rd Street between Harlem and Oak Park avenues, awarding the approximately $174,000 job to Arlington Heights-based Marking Specialists Corporation.
Public Works and Boundaries Committee Chairman Brian Younker recommended the action, one of a half-dozen involving more than $1.1 million.
Jennifer Prinz, senior project manager at Robinson Engineering, addressed the switch to paint during a committee meeting before the full board meeting. The thermoplastic is “not lasting as long and it cost four times as much,” she said, later adding the primary expense is labor.
Prinz said leftover paint could be applied to the surface of 167th Street, where some thermoplastic markings have worn away.
In other road-related actions, trustees hired Riccio Construction to replace a leaky half-mile-long water main on Gaynelle Road between 167th Street and Debra Lane.
Municipal Water Supt Tom Kopanski told the committee the current 6-inch pipe has sprung leaks 16 times in the past 30 years.
The Palos Park-based firm, which previously replaced the water main on the east side of 70th Court, tendered the lowest bid — $658,865 — among the three qualified firms submitting proposals.
Trustees also agreed to pay up to $186,857 for removal and replacement of the 20-year-old boiler serving the public works wing at village hall and replace a 25-year-old hydraulic lift at the public works garage.
Facilities & Fleet Supt. John Urbanski told the committee the boiler work, which includes upgrading piping and controls, would avert a “catastrophic failure.”
The new hydraulic lift will be aboveground, replacing an in-ground device Urbanski characterized as an “extreme safety concern.”
The board tapped Chicago-based FH Paschen Construction Company to oversee both projects through the state’s Job Order Contracting program.
In a roadway-related action recommended by Public Safety Committee Chairman Brian Maher, trustees agreed to replace yield signs with stop signs at the intersections of 92nd Avenue and 174th Street and the intersection of 92nd Avenue and Walnut Lane.
Maher told trustees at least three crashes involving the right of way have occurred at 92nd and 174th, and that the second intersection should also have stop signs “for continuity.”
Dennis Sullivan is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
