The One Percent Sales Tax Commission obligated funding last fall and earlier this year for repaving more neighborhood streets in Jackson.
None of the work has started, however, because the city of Jackson has not taken the steps it must do so paving can begin.
The city’s public works department is responsible for putting together the necessary documents that outline the work so the project can be put out for bid. Next, the bid has to be awarded to a contractor, and the city council must approve the contract.
“We are frustrated,” said Pete Perry, a Belhaven resident and member of the commission. “We want to see some action. We want to see this move forward.”
After the commission selects the streets and allocates the money, a project is out of the commission’s hands and it’s up to the city to do its part, he said.
Nic Lott, the city’s director of communications, did not respond by press time to an inquiry seeking information about how much progress the city has made on moving the road project ahead.
The commission obligated about $3.5 million in funding last fall and about $16 million earlier this year, thinking the city would have contracts in place so paving could begin this spring when the weather is good, he said.
“The frustration is there’s only a certain number of paving companies and Jackson is not the only city wanting to do paving,” Perry said. “We’re afraid the companies will say, ‘We’re booked up for this year.”’
Some of the streets for which the commission allocated funding for repaving and repairing the curbs and gutters, if needed, are in areas that lack neighborhood associations that would have provided the commission with the names of streets they wanted improved when it requested them in 2022 or the associations did not respond to the commission’s request.
Other streets set for improvement are off streets that the commission improved several years ago and additional work is being done in the areas where they are located.
“A bunch of them are little cul-de-sacs,” Perry said, “and we’re getting some odds and ends knocked out.”
The commission provided funding to repave Pear Orchard Road and East Manor Drive several years ago but did not tackle the cul-de-sacs and some of the streets around it. Funds are allocated to provide for those streets to be repaved.
For example, the commission approved repaving and making improvements to the curb and gutter, if needed, on Creekwood Place, Windy Ridge Cove, Oak Creek Place, Raintree Place, Dogwood Hill Drive, Pear Orchard Place, Oakleigh Place and Brobridge Drive, each of which connects to Pear Orchard Road.
Canterbury Court, Chateau Court, Kings Court, Manor Court, Regency Court, Regis Court and Wedgewood Street, each of which connects to East Manor Drive, are set for improvements because they did not get them when East Manor Drive did.
Not all the streets in the commission’s most recent round of improvements are short, Perry said.
“Some are two miles long,” he said. “There’s a little bit of everything.”
The commission selects roads in several ways, with it sometimes being based on a visual inspection and the appearance of a neighborhood, said Perry, who takes time to drive through areas where work will be done.
“Part of what I look at it is how a neighborhood looks,” he said. “if you drive through and half the houses are boarded up and a few streets over the houses are well kept, I’m recommending the place where the houses are well kept.”
The city of Jackson plans to use about $13 million from its $40 million bond issue into street repair with the rest of the funds going for drainage improvements and engineering design for the projects.
The commission funds street improvements outside the bond issue and those that Hinds County handles and the Capitol Complex Improvement District provides for.
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.
These are some of the streets that the commission has allocated funding for so they can be repaved and, if necessary, have curb and gutter repair:
• Belhaven – Euclid Avenue, Oakwood Street, Fairview Street, Arlington Street, Belhaven Street, Pine Street, Hazel Street, Edgewood Street, Jefferson Street and Park Avenue
• Briarwood Drive – Fernwood Drive, County Cork Road, Briarwood West and Horton Avenue
• East Manor Estates – Eastover Place, Sandridge Drive, East Manor Court, Chateau Court, Kings Court, St. Regis Court, Wedgewood Street, Southwood Street, East Ridge Drive, Northover Drive, Kirkwood Place, Kirkwood Court, Deer Creek Drive, Dalrymple Court, Woodlark Drive, North Honeysuckle Drive, Irving Place, Audubon Park, Hickory Ridge, Eastwood Road and Quail Run Drive
• Eastover – Eastbourne Place, Restbrook Drive, Douglas Drive, Rhymes Place, North Honeysuckle Lane and Redbud Road
• Executive Place – Executive Place, Keele Street, Comet Street and Marquis Street
• Fondren – Oakridge Drive, Hawthorne Drive, Robin Drive, Brookwood Road, Hawthorne Court, Crane Boulevard, Buckley Drive, Brookdale Street, Cabell Lane and Woodward
• Lake Trace – Springridge Drive and Kings Place
• Manhattan Road – Manhattan Road, Lynwood Drive, Office Park Drive, Woodway Drive, Bounds Street, Serville Drive, Bienville Place, D’Iberville Place, Ponce de Leon Place, Clair Street, Mimosa Avenue, Barnes Street and Culley Drive
• Northpoint Estates – St. Andrews Drive, St. Andrews Place, Polo Drive and Wimbledon Drive
• Pear Orchard – Pear Orchard Place, Dogwood Hills Drive, Raintree Place, Oak Creek Place, Creekwood Place, Springhill Circle and Windy Ridge Cove
• Riverwood Place – Riverwood Drive and Riverwood Circle
• Sheffield - East Cheryl Drive, Katherine Boulevard, North Cheryl Drive, Trawick Drive, Nottingham Road, Friar Circle, Hazlewood Drive and West Cheryl Drive
•Sugaloch – South Canton Club Circle, Sedgwick Drive, Beechcrest Drive, Barkwood Drive, Beechcrest Court, East Sedgwick Court, Thackery Circle, Diller Lane, Dover Place, Pickford Lane, West Sedgwick Court, Riveria Drive, Kinder Drive, Canton Park Drive, Vista Court, Chelsea Court, Foxboro Drive, Deer Trail, Cypress Trail and River Cove
• Town & Country complex, which is off East County Line Road
Jackson Mayor John Horhn announced in March plans to pave 450 streets by the end of 2027, an effort supported by funding from the one-percent sales tax that the commission allocates, federal highway funding, contributions from the Capitol Complex Improvement District and the $40 million bond backed by internet sales tax revenue.
