No two roads are alike, and problem roads have problems in their own way.
“No two streets are created alike, and they are all different,” said City Engineer Kevin Stafford. “They are built differently, age-wise they’re different, they catch different traffic and have different utilities under them. … Some of them catch more water, some catch more shade.”
Stafford was speaking at the first of two paving-related town halls, held Thursday evening at the lower level of Trotter Convention Center.
The event aimed to educate citizens about how and why the city paves roads when it does, as well as to give people the opportunity to make suggestions.
Although fewer than 10 citizens were physically present, more than 200 watched the Facebook Live stream.
The individual nature of the city’s roads makes it hard to stay on top of problems, Stafford said, as does the lack of money for paving.
While the city has spent about $20 million over the past 20 years on paving, there are always roads left out.
The city has more than $5 million in needs that have been identified since the last round of paving in 2019 and 2020, Stafford said.
“We need your feedback because we can’t be everywhere all the time,” he said. “We don’t see everything.”
The city has to weigh certain variables when it decides whether to pave a street, Stafford said, starting with the most obvious — its overall condition.
“How much traffic is it getting?” he said. “If it’s got two or three years of life left, is it getting hammered every day by heavy traffic? If so, it’s going to deteriorate more quickly, and it should be a higher priority than one with light traffic that hasn’t been paved in 20 years and is in the same condition.”
If a road has drainage issues, those will need to be fixed before the road itself is addressed, Stafford said. Utility issues also have to be weighed, and the city checks with CSpire, AT&T, Sparklight, Atmos and Columbus Light and Water before it paves.
“If there’s anywhere they’re going to do major upgrades in the next five years, we pull it off the (paving) list,” Stafford said. “We’re not going to pave a street if they’re going to turn around and tear it back up.”
Former county roads that have been brought into the city by annexation can also cause problems, Stafford said.
“If we’re overlaying a road, we have to mill off what’s there,” he said. “A lot of roads built by the county are only two inches of asphalt, and you can’t mill off two inches. You’re basically starting from scratch.”
In 2010 the city passed the Complete Street ordinance, which requires road work to include upgrades to sidewalks and Americans with Disabilities Act ramps, Stafford said.
“When streets are repaired, we also fix the sidewalks and ramps,” he said. “The kicker to that is that it adds roughly 10 percent to the project cost. When we bid out these projects, we do an asphalt contract and a concrete contract that’s strictly for the sidewalks. Then nobody’s marking up each other’s number.”
If the sidewalk and ramp work drives costs up too much, that piece can be deferred, Stafford said.
The city has about $460,000 left over from the previous bond — a $6.5 million bond issued in 2019 — as well as north of $3 million in internet use tax revenue it can put toward paving. Stafford asked for citizens’ input on how that war chest should be spent.
“Sometimes the money is spent evenly over the wards,” Stafford said. “… This last time we just put the money on streets-only, and only the streets that need it. Other ideas are setting a minimum and a maximum for each ward and work between those.”
Relief at Chick-fil-A?
Stafford was asked about the road adjacent to Chick-fil-A. The city owns a portion of that road, and about a third is held by Todd Cooper of California, whose company, Magnolia Place Cooper LLC, owns the adjacent shopping center.
“The city is willing and ready to fix their portion of the street,” Stafford said. “The owner has said he wants to do his part, and to send him (his portion of the cost). When we send him (the cost), that’s where communication breaks down. … It is private property, legally the city cannot go in and pave it.
“The nice approach is still the best approach,” he added. “That’s where we are right now. I think sometime between now and (when we complete the list of streets to pave), something will resolve there.”
Cooper, when contacted by The Dispatch Friday afternoon, said he had not gotten any “recent” communications from the city about fixing the road. He did say he is aware of the problem.
“It’s on my list of things to do,” he said.
Cooper said he is amenable to selling the road to the city.
“I would probably have to get the lenders’ permission on something like that, but I’m not opposed to it,” he said. “… It’s so confusing to me. I’ve owned the property for over 20 years and this is the first time I’ve heard anything about it. I called a title company and got a site map so I can see exactly what I own and what I don’t own.”
Pedestrian bridge over roundabout?
Ward 1 Councilwoman Ethel Stewart asked Stafford about building a pedestrian bridge over the Main Street and Second Street North at the roundabout.
“I see people crossing the street there,” she said. “Is it cost-effective to think about putting an overpass there?”
Stafford said there are factors that have to be considered to see if there is a good return on investment for a project like that.
“One of the things that warranted the money for that intersection is the number of crashes,” Stafford said. “(The Mississippi Department of Transportation) felt it was more cost-effective to put money there because of the volume of accidents.”
There would need to be a history of pedestrian accidents there for MDOT to invest in an overpass, Stafford said.
The city has created a survey for citizens to give feedback about paving needs and how they would like to see the money spent. Physical copies are available at City Hall, but it is also available online at www.surveymonkey.com/r/RSKCZ3D.
The city will hold a second town hall Tuesday at 5 p.m. in the lower level of the Trotter Convention Center. It will also be streamed on Facebook.
Brian Jones is the local government reporter for Columbus and Lowndes County.
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