DRIVERS TAKING THE bumpy ride down a section of Meadowbrook Road near the interstate will soon have a smooth ride on that road as a county road crew prepares to repave a half mile section of the street.

The section of Meadowbrook to be repaved is the stretch between I-55 and Ridgewood Road. The repaving work began last week and will cost the county about $175,000 which includes the labor costs, said District One Supervisor Charles Barbour.

This figure is still an estimate because it is not known exactly how many tons of asphalt will be needed to complete the project, and the price for that asphalt changes weekly, Barbour said.

The total cost of the project also includes the amount spent by the city of Jackson to do its share of the work, but Barbour said he did not know how much that was. Messages about this amount spent by the city to David Willis, deputy director of public works for the city, were not returned.

The project is a joint effort between the city of Jackson and Hinds County.

The city is doing the preliminary work, such as the milling, for the Meadowbrook Road project because the county does not have its own milling machine, nor do they have workers who are experienced with manhole covers, Barbour has said.

Neither David Willis nor Barbour was sure of when the last time that section of Meadowbrook Road was repaved. The road was widened to its present four lanes in the mid to late ‘70s, Willis has said.

“I’m extremely excited,” Barbour said. “This was offered to the previous city administration and they refused to accept it, which is unfortunate for the citizens.”

MEADOWBROOK ROAD IS not the only Northside road that will be receiving repaving work this year.

Just under two miles of Ridgewood Road from Lakeland Drive to Old Canton Road could be repaved sometime this summer, at an estimated cost of $300,000 to $500,000, Barbour said.

“That’s what we hope. It may be more,” he said.

Funding for both of these projects is coming from a $30 million bond issue that was passed by the Board of Supervisors in January.

While the Meadowbrook Road work will be completed by workers from both the city of Jackson and Hinds County, the Ridgewood Road work will be bid out to a private construction company.

The county is paving a total of 19 miles of county roads at a cost of $2 million, Barbour said.