R’land completing section
With the city of Ridgeland finishing their work on Lake Harbour Drive earlier this week, reservoir officials anticipate starting construction on the Upper Spillway Road within the next week.
The work is a joint project between Ridgeland and the Pearl River Valley Water Supply District (PRV). Ridgeland’s part included mill, overlay, restriping, curb improvements and upgrading traffic signals on Lake Harbour Drive (which turns into Spillway Road) from Breaker’s Lane to Northpark Drive, about a mile’s worth of road. PRV is responsible for rebuilding and resurfacing the portion of Spillway Road over the dam and also refilling soft spots. The contractor for PRV is W.E. Blain and Sons Inc. and should take a couple of months.
“We should start in the next couple of weeks,” PRV General Manager John Sigman said. “Because Ridgeland’s traffic has been backed up, we wouldn’t have been able to occupy the site anyway.”
Construction should take six to eight weeks.
Earlier this week, contractor Dickerson and Bowen for the city project, were working on traffic signal upgrades, restriping and other small improvements that should not impede traffic.
“They’re working on the center lane and driveways,” Public Works Director Mike McCollum said late last week. “They should be done with all asphalt by Monday and Tuesday, then they’ll start working on signals and restriping.”
Ridgeland’s contract with Dickerson and Bowen runs through August.
Once work starts on the Upper Spillway Road, no lanes will be closed between 7 and 9 a.m. for the least impact on traffic.
Sigman said the PRV can’t postpone the project until summertime, which would be the ideal time of year to complete road projects, because officials are driven by the schedule outlined in the grants from the Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT).
The project’s total cost will be $1.5 million. The MDOT grant will add up to $1.2 million, and the reservoir will provide $300,000 in matching funds.
