Pits, pipes and paving: City gets updates on projects

Published 2:12 pm Wednesday, May 8, 2024

“You’ll see figurative and literal dust flying,” said WGK Engineering’s Mike McKenzie.

McKenzie was updating the Brookhaven Board of Aldermen on work set to begin at the City’s Rubbish Pit on County Farm Lane.

“I don’t know if he’ll start work Monday, but the start time for the contract is next Monday (May 13),” McKenzie told the board.

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The rubbish pit, also known as the landfill site, will undergo EPA-mandated upgrades.

 

Other city issues

A sewer line on Becker Street is falling apart, said Sewer and Water Department Superintendent Jason Markham.
The line has been leaking “real bad,” with sewer water running down the roadway, he said. When excavation was done to determine whether the line could be repaired or needed to be replaced, the superintendent said they found crumbling clay pipe — “A bigger job than I thought.”

Markham asked the Board to approved a bid to replace the line running along Becker, tying into the line on Storm Avenue roughly 60 yards away. Aldermen unanimously approved the lower bid of $12,800 from Greenbriar Digging Services. The other bid received was $15,200 from Mitchell Construction.

City Inspector David Fearn said all buildings scheduled for take down in the City should be coming down within the next couple of weeks.

The North Jackson Street Bridge Project is 98 percent complete even though the passageway has been opened to through-traffic, according to Dungan Engineering’s Joshua Davis. All that is left is a final punch list and walk-through, he said.

When asked if railings on either side of the bridge would be added, Davis said engineer Ryan Holmes was looking into getting them.

The paving project has begun, starting with streets that need to be striped for traffic so they will have time to cure prior to painting. Contractors Dickerson & Bowen will take a break of about three weeks once that phase is complete, then return to the project once schools have let out for the summer.

The lot at A. L. Lott Sportsplex is about two weeks away from being completed, Davis said, and the drop-off shoulders along a portion of Natchez Drive will be addressed when that area is paved.