Oktibbeha County will soon pave Longview Road in its entirety, thanks to permission the county received from the Office of State Aid to expand the scope of the planned project.
County Engineer Clyde Pritchard told supervisors during Monday’s meeting that an engineer with the Office of State Aid Road Construction has reclassified the road, which will allow the county to stretch its $1.8 million for the project into paving the full road, rather than just a portion at each end.
“They reclassified the road to what they call a 3R design, which relaxes some of the design requirements,” Pritchard said. “That lets us extend our dollars further so that we can do the entire 3.77 miles.”
Prior to Monday’s meeting, the county’s plan to partially pave the road, which connects highways 12 and 25, included about two total miles, working in from each end with an unpaved stretch remaining in the center.
“The job originally started as a federally-funded project,” Pritchard said. “It had very stringent design requirements for width and shoulders and paving. It’s been reclassified, basically to a rural roadway that relaxed a lot of that.”
Pritchard, who has been in regular contact with the State Aid office about Longview Road, said representatives visited the county about two weeks ago. He’s gone to Jackson to discuss the project twice.
Monday’s meeting saw supervisors approve two items related to Longview Road. With the first, the board re-obligated $886,000 in State Aid funds that were awaiting matching federal Surface Transportation Program (STP) funding to be used for the project. With the second, supervisors reapproved the project to pave all of Longview Road using the re-obligated money.
Both measures passed by a 3-0 margin. District 3 Supervisor Marvell Howard was absent from Monday’s meeting and District 5 Supervisor Joe Williams had not yet arrived at the time of the vote.
In addition to the $886,000 in State Aid, the county is also using $250,000 of its own money and $750,000 in BP oil spill settlement money the Legislature approved for the project during a special session in August.
Pritchard said he expects plans for the project to be complete by Christmas 2019, with it going to bid in the spring. Work, he said, should start in late spring or early summer.
State Aid roads are those that come off of state highways and act as thoroughfares for their area. The Office of State Aid deems whether a road qualifies for that designation. Those that do are built to certain standards, based on width, crowning, signage and other requirements from the state.
Artesia Road, Old West Point Road, Craig Springs Road and Maben-Sturgis Road are other examples of State Aid roads in Oktibbeha County.
A years-long process
Monday’s news was a far cry from where the project stood in June when supervisors de-obligated the State Aid funds from the Longview Road project because federal funding to support the work hadn’t come through.
Supervisors John Montgomery and Bricklee Miller, of districts 1 and 4, respectively, both have part Longview Road in their jurisdiction. Both supervisors said they were thrilled to see that the road will be paved in its entirety.
“With the hard work from Clyde Pritchard — I mean, he just went over and above what he was required to do — and with the Office of State Aid changing some of the requirements, it’s allowed us to pave the whole road,” Miller said. “Nobody will be more excited than I am to see this project completed, other than, of course, the citizens who live on Longview Road and drive it.”
Montgomery said he is grateful to the State Aid office and commended Pritchard for his persistence in pushing to get the whole project done. Montgomery also noted the project, which has been in the works for years couldn’t have been completed without the groundwork of earlier county officials, such as former administrator Don Posey and former District 4 Supervisor Daniel Jackson.
“It’s been, at times, a painful process, but it’s been a rewarding one,” Montgomery said. “Even before tonight, I’ve seen some victories. But to say that we can finally get this road paved all the way through — I mean, ultimately the people are going to be the ones to benefit from it. That’s what we’re here to do.”
Alex Holloway was formerly a reporter with The Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 41 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.