Ten neighborhood streets were added this summer to the contract that the One Percent Tax Infrastructure Commission is funding for improvements.
Eight of the streets were initially on the list but were removed when the commission received information that JXN Water would make necessary water-sewer repairs and then resurface the entire length of a street where it made repairs.
After learning JXN Water’s plans did not include major resurfacing, the commission put the streets back on the list for improvements, said Pete Perry, a Jackson resident and member of the commission.
The Jackson City Council authorized the mayor in May to execute a change order to the contract of Dickerson & Bowen, which is handling the first phase of the project to improve neighborhood streets.
The change order puts 10 more streets on the list, including these in Belhaven: Pinehurst Street from State Street to the dead end; Poplar Boulevard from State Street to the dead end; Manship Street from State Street to Monroe Street; St. Ann Street from Riverside Drive to the dead end, and St. Mary Street from Poplar Boulevard to Laurel Street; and these in Fondren: Avondale Street from Old Canton Road to Hawthorn Drive and Hawthorn Drive from Old Canton Road to Avondale Street
The change order added 345 calendar days to the contract and stipulates curb and gutter work as needed on the streets that are improved. The curb and gutter work is to restore drainage and improve the overall finished quality of the resurfaced streets.
The work on the additional streets makes the project cost about $5.4 million more and puts the total contract amount at about $10.5 million
To make the most of the funding and reduce the expense of moving the equipment, all the streets in a neighborhood are being resurfaced before the contractor begins work in another neighborhood.
Fondren and Belhaven account for about half of the neighborhood streets the commission funded in the first phase of resurfacing.
In 2021, the commission asked neighborhood homeowners associations to submit the names of streets in their neighborhoods that they would like resurfaced and that began the commission’s selection process.
The commission took the names of the streets that the associations recommended and compiled a list for Neel-Schaffer to visit and visually inspect for condition. Neel-Schaffer was paid $300,000 to evaluate streets and estimate the project costs and prepare bid documents for it.
Plans are for the commission to fund a second phase of the project with streets included from the lists the associations submitted, but Perry expects it will be more difficult to move another phase of the project ahead without the city of Jackson having a city engineer.
The city collects about $1.1 million to $1.2 million every month from 1 percent of sales tax. That does not include sales tax related to hotels, bars or restaurants in the city. Jackson voters approved the sales tax on Jan. 14, 2014.
Until now, most of the road improvements the commission has provided funding for have been major thoroughfares such as North State Street, although the commission in its early days funded work on some residential streets scattered here and there.
