A quarter mile of Main Street in Ripon is due for reconstruction.

“That would call for digging out the road and adding a new base,” said James Pease of the City of Ripon Engineering Department.

At Tuesday’s Ripon City Council meeting, he referred to that stretch of Main Street, from Jack Tone Road to Robert Avenue, coming at a price tag of about $456,000.

The project was also submitted as an alternative bid by American Pavement Systems Inc. of Modesto.

Elected leaders accepted that bid along with the other alternative bid for an asphalt overlay – also one quarter mile at about $251,000 (small sections would be dug out with two inches of fresh asphalt for the overlay) – on Main Street, from the historic downtown arch to Robert Avenue.

Add the base bid consisting of cape seal (rubber coat on 2.12 miles at about $395,000 along most of Robert Avenue, Vera Avenue, and Fourth and Seventh streets) and the total bid to comes to over $1 million ($1,067,509) to come from various funding sources, including the 2015 Capital Street and Road account with a current balance of $1.9 million.

“Cape Seal is a rubber coat on the existing roadway with a chip seal and a layer of rock (to the rubber seal),” Pease said.

Mayor Leo Zuber was aware of the poor conditions of the roads, in particular, that one quarter mile stretch on Main Street in need of reconstruction. It was categorized as “very poor,” according to the Pavement Condition Index.

Because this section of Main Street carries a high volume of traffic while serving a number of businesses, Pease recommended that Council make this an exception to the 2010 Pavement Preservation Plan.

He noted that oil prices are the lowest seen in the last seven years which, historically, translates into a dip in asphalt prices.

The City hopes to take advantage of this potential cost savings and complete as much road repair as possible.

Councilman Dean Uecker received an affirmative nod when asked: “Is this the work for all road repairs for the year?”

Zuber pointed out that this is work that needs to get done.

“I’m glad we’re doing something about it,” he said. “We have problems (with our roads) but we have to start somewhere.”