ILWACO — Citywide repairs to the streets of Ilwaco have been postponed until next year after all of the construction bids for the project came in well above the city’s expectations.

The Ilwaco City Council at its July 14 meeting authorized Mayor Mike Cassinelli to officially reject all three proposals the city received for its expansive streets project that is mostly being funded through a Washington Transportation Improvement Board (TIB) grant program. Each of the bids far exceeded the $1.32 million estimate for the project that had been calculated by the city’s engineering firm, Gray & Osborne, with the lowest coming in nearly $280,000 above the estimate.

The work in question calls for pavement improvements to approximately five miles of city streets, with about 95% of the cost slated to be covered by TIB’s Red Town Initiative, which provides street maintenance assistance to cities and towns with a population under 5,000. The “red town” alludes to TIB’s online dashboard that marks cities with a red indicator light when their pavement condition is much worse than the statewide average.

Following the bid opening on June 25, TIB asked Ilwaco to reject the bids and provide new specifications and cost estimates that include cheaper treatments, along with possible alternate bids — where a portion of the work is not part of the main bid and provides the city with more options for determining the ultimate scope of the project. These new steps will delay the project until 2026.

While the delay is disappointing, Ilwaco City Administrator Holly Beller said it will give the city the opportunity to ensure it gets the best possible results from the project. City staff found that the initial advertised bid may not have included the same street widths and locations as was originally understood, which Gray & Osborne was “eager to correct” for the next bid cycle.

Most of the work on city streets was to include a single or double layer of chip sealing, a pavement surface treatment that involves spraying a thin layer of heated asphalt liquid on the road surface that is combined with the placement and compression of small aggregate — “chips” — and meant to fill small cracks and protect the pavement from the effects of sun and water.

Along with chip sealing, some roads were also slated to be graveled or pulverized as part of the process to treat the surface. Pulverization happens when surfaces are too damaged to fill, seal or make other spot repairs.