CHESAPEAKE — A contract for the project to repair the hillside slip along Rockwood Avenue in Chesapeake should be awarded next week.

The apparent winning bid went to Shelly and Sands of Columbus.

“It won’t be official until Thursday,” said Kathleen Fuller, public information officer for the Ohio Department of Transportation, District 9. “The bid came in below the state’s estimate.”

Shelly and Sands’ bid of $984,496.15 was approximately $300,000 below the state’s estimate of $1.3 million or 26 percent below that estimate.

Six bids were opened by ODOT on Sept. 26. Other bidders were Alan Stone of Cutler, Becdir of Berlin Center, DGM Inc. of Beaver, Suburban Maintenance and Construction of North Royalton and RC Construction of Cutler.

The project, that had originally been expected to cost $1.8 million, will be similar to a tie-back done recently by ODOT in Scioto County instead of a retaining wall. The slippage has plagued the village of Chesapeake for more than two years as the hillside has periodically come down onto the roadway. There have been times when it even shut the road down to a single lane.

“I am thrilled,” Chesapeake Mayor Dick Gilpin said. “I knew it was coming. I didn’t know when. I am glad to see (the tie-back). It will improve the road. That is a very difficult place to put a retaining wall because of the makeup of the hill.”