Jackson moving ahead on major road and sewer projects
Four projects affecting some 81,000 motorists daily are moving forward, following votes by the Jackson City Council.
Recently, the council approved engineering contracts for two road projects and one sewer project on the Northside, in addition to hiring a contractor to repave one of the area’s worst roadways – East Northside Drive.
Combined, the projects will cost a little more than $3 million, with the bulk of that going to the East Northside Drive repaving.
All measures were approved unanimously.
Among votes, the council awarded a $2,394,000 contract to APAC Mississippi to mill and overlay East Northside from the I-55 frontage road to North State Street.
The project will also include updating sidewalks and bringing them into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
“We’ll start roughly the first of August. There is a final rubber stamp with the highway commission. We’ll try to get (the contract) to them by the end of May, the first of June,” said Traffic Engineer Robert Lee.
Construction will take 120 days to complete, weather pending.
The work is being funded with a $1.4 million federal FAST Act grant, with the local match coming from the city’s one-percent oversight commission.
Because federal funds are being used on the work, the contract must be signed off on by the Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT).
The street averages around 20,000 vehicles a day, according to MDOT traffic count maps. The stretch is one of the worst streets in the city, according to a 2013 evaluation.
In other news, engineering firms were hired to design projects for Woodrow Wilson Avenue, North State Street and Ridgewood Road.
For Woodrow Wilson, Michael Baker International was hired for a contract not to exceed $46,219, to relocate utilities within the project’s footprint.
The work will include repaving the roadway from I-55 to Mill Street and adding a third westbound lane from the top of the hill at the G.V. (Sonny) Montgomery VA Hospital to Peachtree Street in front of the Blair E. Baston Children’s Hospital.
Plans also include extending an existing bike trail from the North State/Woodrow Wilson intersection to Peachtree Street, installing new signalization at the Peachtree intersection and adding new storm drains and gutters.
“We have regular cyclists who come from Peachtree and a path is getting worn in on the median on the north side of Woodrow Wilson,” Traffic Engineer Robert Lee said. “It’s something we can build on in the long-term.”
Baker was previously awarded a $295,000 contract to complete the drawings.
About 33,000 vehicles use the roadway each day. Woodrow Wilson serves Batson Hospital, the VA Hospital, Murrah High School, and provides the quickest route from the interstate to Millsaps College.
The firm EJES was brought on to draw up plans for the next phase of the North State Street repaving project, which will run from Sheppard Road to Briarwood Drive.
The contract is for approximately $211,783 and is being paid for with funds from a federal FAST Act grant.
The city received the $1.5 million grant in February to mill and overlay the street, and to make pedestrian features within the stretch ADA compliant.
Approximately 14,000 vehicles a day use the street.
Design work is expected to begin immediately, pending council approval.
Finally, the city awarded a $47,900 contract to Southern Consultants to plan sewer repairs along Ridgewood Road. A sewer main there collapsed months ago, forcing the city to block off a portion of the south-bound lane between Northside and Meadowbrook.
The lane closure impacts about 14,000 vehicles a day.
