Supervisors hear update on county projects

Apr. 15—As the sun comes out and temperatures warm, Lauderdale County officials are taking stock of where they stand with ongoing projects heading into the summer.

In a work session Thursday, Richmond Alexander of Engineering Plus, which serves as the county engineer, updated the Board of Supervisors on road and bridge work.

Lizelia Road

Lizelia Road reopened last fall after contractors replaced a bridge with a box culvert. Alexander said the project is completed with the final paperwork making its way through the Mississippi Office of State Aid Road Construction.

A second project on Lizelia Road, which will include work on two bridges, is nearly ready to bid. Alexander said the county is in the final stages of talking with landowners and will be able to move forward soon. However, he said, it might be better to wait until a bridge project on Dale Drive is completed to avoid excessive detours for county residents.

Pine Springs Road

A project to replace two bridges on Pine Springs Road is also moving forward, Alexander said. The design portion of the project, which will eliminate one bridge and replace another, is complete and work acquiring right of way and relocating utilities is underway.

Board Attorney Lee Thaggard said part of the property the county will need to acquire belongs to the Lauderdale County School District. Since it is the school's property, it will have to be appraised, and the county will have to pay full value for the property.

Alexander said a potential snag in the Pine Springs Road project is a Mississippi Power transmission line. Part of the work needing to be done, he said, is not possible with the transmission line active. The county is working with the power company to come up with options about how best to tackle the problem.

"We really don't know what that is going to look like yet," he said.

Byrd-Doerner Road

A project to replace a bridge on Byrd-Doerner Road with a concrete box culvert is moving along, but recent rain has caused some delays. Alexander said water is flowing through the concrete box, but the contractor still has several sections left to pour and can't move forward until it dries out.

Wildcat Road

After some issues with obtaining the necessary easements, a bridge project on Wildcat Road is almost ready to bid out to contractors.

Murphy Road

A bridge project on Murphy Road, which has rerouted garbage trucks heading to the Pine Ridge Landfill, is also moving forward, Alexander said. The design work and necessary environmental studies are complete, and relocating utilities inside the worksite is underway.

Zero Road

A project on Zero Road is almost done with the design phase. Alexander said he estimated the design was 95% complete, but there were a few things about the plan the county is working out with the railroad. Once the two parties reach agreement, he said it will be a simple matter of relocating utilities and getting the proper easements.

Road Department Maintenance Facility

A $3 million maintenance facility for Lauderdale County Road Department is under construction. Alexander said the area for the concrete pad has been staked out and county crews are working to get the site ready. The goal is to have the pad poured by May 1 to give the contractor, J&J Contractors, time to do site prep before the building arrives in June.

Q.V. Sykes Restroom

Lauderdale County supervisors previously discussed building restroom facilities on the county's portion of Q.V. Sykes Park. With a nod from the Board of Supervisors, Alexander and Road Department Manager Rush Mayatt investigated what the cost of the restrooms might be.

Alexander said Thursday the cost is higher than expected with one-stall restrooms for men and women coming in at about $100,000.

Supervisor Jonathan Wells said he wants to step back and look at the project before moving forward. One stall for each men and women's restroom, he said, will not meet the demand brought by a large tournament or State Games of Mississippi event.

Dale Drive

A project to address a dilapidated bridge on Dale Drive is moving forward even as the county receives pushback from community leaders. The bridge, which is located just south of Hamasa Temple Shrine, is in bad shape and could be ordered closed by State Aid inspectors at any time.

The bridge is also one of the most heavily trafficked in Lauderdale County with an estimated 12,000 vehicles crossing the span, many in excess of the posted 3-ton weight limit.

Alexander said the county has been in touch with surrounding landowners and does not anticipate any problems getting the necessary easements. The design portion of the project is also completed, and there are no required environmental studies and no utilities that need to be relocated.

"As soon as we get the final documents, we can go to bid and get that bridge fixed," he said. "It's badly needed."

Lauderdale County was awarded $1.1 million from the state's Emergency Road and Bridge Repair fund to address the bridge's failing condition, and the county has been working rapidly to design a solution and get the ball rolling before the state orders the bridge closed. The project will be bid out with replacing the bridge and making Dale Drive three lanes from the bridge to the four-way stop in Marion the main scope of work. A project to turn the four-way stop at the corner of Dale Drive and Lindley Road into a roundabout will be bid as an alternate.

Alexander also addressed comments that the county should put in a temporary detour road while the Dale Drive bridge is replaced. With the amount of land that would need to be acquired, the costs involved and the time it would take to put a temporary road in place, he said the idea just isn't feasible.

Supervisor Wayman Newell agreed with Alexander that the temporary road was not a good route to take. The cost and the amount of work involved made it implausible.

Alexander said he wants the community to understand the idea was considered but isn't the best course of action in this case. Instead, vehicles will be able to detour along Marion Drive, Newell Road and Highway 39 while the work is underway.

Wells said an additional benefit of working ahead of the state inspectors is that the road won't be closed for nearly as long. The project is set to begin this summer and is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

Contact Thomas Howard on Twitter @tmhoward