Bay County jumping to Phase III of road repaving project. Is your street on the list?
PANAMA CITY — Local leaders are continuing on the pathway to restoring hurricane-destroyed roads throughout the county.
Bay County officials on Tuesday awarded a $4,317,086 contract to Gulf Coast Utility Contractors to resurface 4.5 miles of roads for Phase III of the Roadway Rehabilitation HM Reconstruction project. Construction will begin in the upcoming weeks, officials said.
Twenty roads have been identified as eligible for FEMA assistance for repairs.
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County officials awarded contracts for the first two phases of the project earlier this month, setting out to pave more than 132 miles of damaged roads for $40 million.
Commissioner Doug Moore said there will be six to eight additional phases of the resurfacing project.
"A lot of these are residential roads and some collector roads, but they are various," Moore said. "You can go to (baycountyfl.gov) and you can see, we have a map that shows each one of the roads that are going to be there. So, there's a lot of numbers, small-mile-wise, but a lot of different roads throughout the community."
In 2018, Hurricane Michael tore through the county and left immense damage and debris in its wake. For many months, hundreds of debris-hauling trucks took a heavy toll on roads.
During Tuesday's meeting, Commissioner Bill Dozier applauded County Chief Infrastructure Officer Keith Bryant and the public works department for driving the roads project.
"We've watched the way that you've taken the tax dollars and local tax dollars and stretched them as far as you can by working very closely with FEMA and rearranging certain things," Dozier said. "Just an outstanding job."
By repairing the dozens of roads, Moore said the project will improve the quality of life for both the county and the residents in those areas.
"Anything helps that we don't have to use the citizens' own funds to be able to do the repair work," Moore said. "So, this is a wonderful thing that FEMA is doing, helping us out with covering the cost of resurfacing these roads and improving the quality of life of the citizens that live on these roads."
List of roads for Phase III:
Kelly Street
Hitchcock Road
Pecan Avenue
Fulton Street
Skywater Drive
West Laneland Drive
Quail Run
West 25th Street
West 23rd Street
Flower Avenue
Sarasota Avenue
Picadilly Lane
Ormond Avenue
Amelia Avenue
Charles Drive
Jarvis Drive
Allanton Road
Gilchrist Avenue
McKenzie Avenue
Wedgewood Circle
This article originally appeared on The News Herald: Bay County approves contract to repair roads damaged by hurricane