Council approved a $6.1 million contract for Pittman Asphalt to pave the city's roads this year.
Pittman was one of four companies that bid on the city's 2014 paving contract. Council allotted $7 million to the road rehabilitation budget this year.
The last time the city put out their paving contract to tender was in 2012 when they received two bids with Columbia Bitulithic getting the contract for $3 million. The company took on the 2013 paving program as well, after exercising an option to extend their contract for an additional year.
An option in favour of the city to extend the contract for an extra year was a part of the 2014 contract, but city manager Beth James said they would come back to council before giving the go-ahead for any future work.
There were marginal savings in this year's contract. According to operations director Bill Gaal, the city paid $137 per tonne for asphalt in 2013. This year's contract works out to $129 per tonne.
During Monday night's council meeting, Gaal laid out the various methods used to fix city roads.
"Where there are no curb and gutters, we have a lot more latitude" in which paving method can be used, said Gaal.
These include micro surfacing, thin lift overlay, mill and overlay, pulverize and pave, full reconstruction and more.
"When the city amalgamated in the late 1970s, it inherited roads that weren't constructed to the same standards, said Gaal.
According to Gaal's report to council, administration estimates that it costs $1.2 million per kilometre to reconstruct a road (with no curb and gutter) to current city standards. Most of the alternate methods cost less than half of that, the report said.
"Using some of the other methods, we increase structural strength while providing new, smooth driving surface," the report said.
Nine of the 52 sections paved over the past two years were identified as defective and requiring warranty-covered repairs.
Last year, the city paved 19,707 metres of road - about 50 lane kilometres.
