City officials have decided to take advantage of unusually low prices and chip-seal more miles of roadway than they’d originally planned.

Helena Sand & Gravel won a $310,000 bid to chip-seal 11 1/2 miles of Helena streets later this month, the most miles that have received that treatment in five years.

Materials costs had been rising for years, but the company came in with a surprisingly low bid, City Engineer Ryan Leland told city commissioners this week. The city decided to take advantage of the deal and added $60,000 in funding to the original quarter-million they’d set aside for the project.

The city treated about 6 miles of streets last year. Chip-sealing prolongs the lives of roadways. Workers patch potholes and cracks before spreading a thin layer of tack oil on the roadway. They then pour on a layer of stone chips and roll the new surface with equipment. The treatment provides a fresh, protective driving surface and generally works to hold roadways together.

The city works on a rotating 20-year schedule of streets. This year’s project includes roadways in the lower west side, the Capitol area and the east end of town.

The work will include portions of the following streets:

n Lower West Side: Warehouse and Hudson streets; Waukesha, Peosta, Hollins, Leslie and Wilder avenues; and some railroad crossings throughout town.

n Capitol Area: Sixth, Ninth, Winnie, Illinois and Ohio avenues; Highland and Sibelius streets; Broadway Court; and Jerome Place.

n East: Janet, Dorothy, Irene, Lola, Wilkinson, 18th, North and Alice streets; Starbuck and Bumblebee circles; and Shepard Way.

Reporter Larry Kline: 447-4075 or larry.kline@helenair.com