By a 6-1 vote during a special meeting, Rehoboth commissioners approved a change order to the ocean outfall project May 1 that will nearly double paving costs on Henlopen Avenue

Originally estimated at about $410,000, commissioners approved up to $350,000 more to repave the 1-mile stretch of road in north Rehoboth. Commissioner Lisa Schlosser was the only no vote.

Representing the global engineering company in charge of construction, GHD, Kelvin George said the change order was expected to cost around $310,000. He said the miscalculation occurred because only a single boring sample was taken prior to bidding the project; it showed six inches of asphalt and that formed the basis for the contract. As construction has moved forward, he said, that thickness does not hold true for the rest of the street.

George said if the additional money wasn’t approved, there would only be a few inches of asphalt on top of dirt on Henlopen Avenue once repaving is complete. He said approving the change will give the road structural integrity, estimating it would last 10 to 15 years.

“At the end of the day, the city will have a much better road that will last a lot longer,” George said.

Commissioner Jay Legree said if the town didn’t do this there could be the possibility of having to dig the whole road up in the future to do it right.

“This is a no-brainer,” he said.

George said construction costs, even with the change order approved, are still under the originally estimated amount of approximately $43.1 million. The new paving estimate would push costs to around $42 million.

George said other change orders could push the project’s costs over budget, specifically three claims estimated to cost nearly $3 million – a claim of $1.1 million associated with ground conditions other than expected, a claim of $890,000 associated with weather delays, and a claim of $800,000 associated with damage to the diffuser at the ocean end of the project.

George said the construction company hasn’t provided proof necessary to approve the claims, and nothing will happen until they do.

With Memorial Day closing in, Schlosser was concerned Henlopen Avenue would not be complete before the summer season.

Mitch Seitz, regional manager for A-Del Construction, said the best-case scenario was to have Henlopen Avenue paving done before the summer’s first major holiday, but he said it could run into the first couple weeks of June.

That did not please Schlosser. All through this process, she said, the commissioners have been told the paving would be done by Wednesday, May 23.

City Manager Sharon Lynn said the project is fluid; every delay affects everything else. Dates are set in stone as much as possible, she said.

The portion of project running through Grove Park may not delay Henlopen Avenue repaving, but Seitz said a recent issue associated with running the outfall pipe between two Delmarva Power lines could delay completion of the project overall. As of the meeting, he said his construction crew was ready to do the work, but Delmarva Power’s engineers hadn’t signed off on how to properly support the poles while construction was taking place.

“If we can do it today, we can get it done,” Seitz said.