The last work to be done on the vastly improved Riverside Drive is under way.
JXN Water is wrapping up its part of the project from Myrtle Street to the I-55 bridge and then Hemphill Construction will be on site to pave that segment, said Aisha Carson, social impact strategist for JXN Water.
JXN Water is responsible for connecting the new 36-inch water line with the existing water line at Myrtle Street and dealing with a storm drainage issue there.
Pete Perry, a member of the One Percent Sales Tax Commission that funded the project, estimated it would take two or three weeks for the last details of the project to be finished.
The majority of improvements to Riverside Drive were completed earlier this year.
The estimated $17-million project included digging up the street, removing Yazoo clay and hauling in new dirt, replacing major water lines, repairing the sewer and storm drainage systems and repaving. New signage in keeping with the neighborhood’s historic district is in place and new live oaks trees replace those that had to be removed during construction.
The project, “as a single entity project,” is probably the biggest the One Percent Sales Tax Commission has funded, Perry said. The rebuild of State Street from Fondren to Sheppard Road was a $20 million project with the commission providing half of the funds and the rest coming from federal and state sources.
Virgi Lindsay, a Belhaven resident who represents Ward Seven on the Jackson City Council, summed up the Riverside Drive project like this: “It represents a lot of work by a lot of people over a lot of years.”
In November 2021, the city council awarded a $13.8 million contract to Hemphill Construction for the project, which was expected to take 390 calendar days. A notice to proceed was issued in March 2022.
The project has had its share of ups and downs, some expected, others unexpected.
Early on in the project, obtaining materials was challenging as it was for many projects at that time and that caused delay.
Inoperable water valves that had to be replaced, sewer lines crossing Riverside Drive that were in worse condition than thought, the removal of trees as recommended by an arborist and extra traffic control to implement two-way traffic from Murrah Drive to Museum Boulevard were among unforeseen conditions that required changes to the contract and additional funds.
“I’m glad a professional made a decision about what to do with the trees,” Perry said. “We saved the ones that could be saved and acknowledged what could be done.”
The only problem not anticipated was the city’s failure to pay bills related to the project, Perry said.
The city did not pay Hemphill Construction for several months and that impacted the project.
“After a while, they (Hemphill) pulled their crews and quit work like they did on some other projects in the city because they weren’t being paid,” he said, naming a project on Terry Road as another example where Hemphill Construction stopped work.
Last December, the city began paying Hemphill for the work it had done and crews went back to work on Riverside.
Last year, an estimated $925,000 rise in the cost of the Riverside Drive project was announced. The increase was due to a rise in the cost of construction engineering and inspection because additional workdays had to be added to complete the job and the price of asphalt went up. The commission planned to use funds set aside in case they were needed to cover that.
At the time, Ashby Foote, who represents Ward One on the Jackson City Council, said the reason behind the rise in the cost of the project showed an inability on the part of the city to take care of business.
“It’s outrageous that the city isn’t organized to pay its bills in a timely manner,” Foote said. “This is certainly evidence that the city needs to raise its game to a more professional level.”
At the time, Virgi Lindsay, who represents Ward Seven on the council, called the increase in the cost of the project “a sad symptom of inconsistent leadership in the public works department.”
In January, it was announced the project is expected to come in at $276,500 over what was expected because the additional time needed for construction engineering and inspection was less than anticipated.
“When they (Waggoneer Engineering) put together the final bill, it didn’t come out to as much,” Perry said. “The additional time needed for construction engineering and inspection was less than expected,” Perry said.
Construction and engineering and design contracts are based on estimates and the final amount paid is based on the actual number of hours worked, Perry said.
During the Jan. 20 council meeting, the reduction was explained with a different spin.
Terry Williamson, legal counsel for the city of Jackson, told the city council this:
“If you remember there was an issue about delay on the project and that this was going to cost the city like a million dollars,” he said. “Through Mr. (Robert) Lee’s work we negotiated what was an $800,000-and-something amendment down to a $275,000 amendment,” Wiliamson said. “It wound up costing about half of what was initially reported.”
Perry disputed the explanation Williamson provided, saying “it wasn’t ‘We talked things out and twisted their arm.’”
A corridor relied upon by neighborhood residents, students at Belhaven University, Millsaps College, Bailey APAC Middle School, Wells APAC Elementary School and Murrah High School as well as other drivers, Riverside Drive is used by at least 4,300 travelers daily.
That’s according to the 2019 average annual daily traffic count from the Mississippi Department of Transportation. The traffic count relies on 48 hours of data and is adjusted using factors such as day of the week and the season of the year.
Riverside Drive has needed repairs for 20 years, but they were delayed because of the expense of the project, Lindsay said.
The commission approved the road reconstruction in 2015 but the project went nowhere because of a lack of funding.
The last time Riverside Drive was reworked was 25 years ago, Perry said.
