Paving project halfway complete
Published 10:32 am Thursday, April 28, 2016
It’s hard to miss the work being done around town as Dickerson & Bowen works to complete the $3 million paving project the City of Brookhaven has undertaken.
Ryan Holmes, the engineer over the project, said as of Wednesday the project is considered 41.96 percent complete based on quantities of materials used. There have been 90 working days charged to the project out of the 180 days available.
“Rain and weather have been a factor,” he said. “However, Dickerson & Bowen has been as efficient as possible. We are very pleased with the progress and the quality of the work.”
The plan for the upcoming weeks includes work on West Monticello Street, South First Street, West Chickasaw Street, West Minnesota Street, South Dr. Martin L. King Jr. Drive and Sawmill Lane. Holmes warned that during the pavement reclamation process on Sawmill Lane, it will be mostly impassable. Motorists should be mindful and seek an alternate route.
Base repair and leveling has been completed on North Second Street, Broken Lane, Lumber Street, Old Wesson Road and Walnut Street. Milling is complete on West Congress Street, West Monticello Street, North Jackson Street, West Enterprise Street and South First Street. Remaining streets to be milled include West Minnesota Street, West Chickasaw Street and South Dr. Martin L. King Jr. Drive.
Streets that have been completed include Junior Trail, Portman Trail, Gatson Trail, Brignall Road, Field Lark Lane, Fairlawn Trail, Heuck’s Retreat Road, Harper Street, Melanie Lane, North Jackson Street, North Park Lane, Honey Creek Lane, Drury Lane, Lipsey Street, Hartman Street, West Congress Street, West Enterprise Street, North Martin Luther King, Williams Street, City Park Parking, Palmer Drive and Kids Kingdom parking.
“Contrary to the way city paving has been carried out in past years, the mayor and Board of Aldermen embarked upon a much larger paving project in 2016,” city officials said in a letter. “In order to provide a systematic plan of assessing and grading streets by professionals, the city hired Dungan Engineering to evaluate and present to the board a plan to improve our major thoroughfares and poor or failed auxiliary roads.”
Engineers evaluated every street in the city, and officials said paving funds have been directed to those streets that were found to be in the worst condition. Through this process, the board was able to more than triple the number of miles ordinarily paved.
“The goal of the city board is to get all our city streets in great condition,” officials said in a statement. “Weather permitting, your street will be paved as soon as possible if it is on the 2016 list.”