The potholes on Meadowbrook Road will be a thing of the past when Hemphill Construction Co. begins a project to make improvements.
The Jackson City Council awarded Hemphill Construction Co. the bid to rework Meadowbrook Road from I-55 to West Street.
Hemphill’s bid of $3.31 million was the lowest for the project that will include repairs to the road base, spot curb and gutter repair and milling and overlay.
As part of the project, Meadowbrook Road will be reduced from four lanes to three lanes to make room for an Americans with Disabilities Act-accessible, multi-use path on one side of the road. The path will be like one on Old Canton Road.
Seventy-five percent of the funding for the project will come from federal funds known as FAST (Fixing America’s Surface Transportation) Act funds and 25 percent from the city’s 1 percent sales tax. Because of the federal funding, the Mississippi Department of Transportation must sign off on the project.
The city selected EJES Inc. to perform construction engineering and inspections for the project at a cost not to exceed $253,728.15.
Meadowbrook between Old Canton Road and North State is riddled with potholes and utility cuts, and motorists often have to swerve to miss running into the worst crevasses.
The roadway is traveled by about 10,000 vehicles a day, according to Mississippi Department of Transportation traffic count maps.
According to data from a 2013 street survey, the majority of Meadowbrook Road between State Street and the interstate was listed in “poor” condition, with only one section that had not gone beyond its serviceable life.
The road study was conducted by Stantec Consulting Services in 2013. Data was not released until early 2017. Stantec evaluated all lane miles of roadway in the capital city, and rated the roadways using specialized equipment.
Between North State and Kings Highway, Meadowbrook Road had three years of remaining life, while between Childress Drive and Old Canton, the street had zero to two years of remaining life.
Earlier this year, a sewer project for a portion of Meadowbrook Road west of I-55 North wrapped up. Part of the road was closed for quite some time after a major sewer line collapsed.
