A countywide mapping project that used high-tech sensors to capture every crack, curb and sign in Lowndes County will save Columbus about $110,000 on a proposed street assessment.
The data, collected by Golden Triangle Planning and Development District, includes detailed information on city streets, curbs, sidewalks and any other structures detected through high-resolution cameras and laser sensors mounted on a vehicle driven through the city.
The mapping shows the condition of each road surface and can even identify cracks, bumps and potholes, creating a clear picture of where maintenance is most needed.
Lowndes County supervisors contracted GTPDD for about $350,000 to conduct the assessment, which included Columbus.
City Engineer Kevin Stafford had previously recommended the city contract with Austin-based company Fugro to conduct a similar assessment, but with the data from GTPDD, that won’t be necessary.
“All we’ve got to do now is get the assessment and start looking at what all we need to do next, saving the city $110,000 and some change,” Stafford said at a city council work session Wednesday at City Hall.
Stafford said the county will share data on city curbs, roads, sidewalks and signs collected in the study with the city, allowing Neel-Schaffer, the firm where Stafford serves as North Mississippi manager, to analyze the data, prioritize roads by condition and implement plans to improve them, which could range from preservation
“(It’s) a combination of street preservation, which buys you time and is cheaper, and then also obviously mill and fills,” Stafford told The Dispatch after the meeting. “… That’s where we have to decide, ‘This street, based on its current condition, if we let it go much further, it’s going to cost us more, or we could preserve it right now and buy us 10, 15 years.’”
To collect the road data, GIS Manager Toby Sanford said GTPDD uses a MX-15 mobile mapping unit equipped with cameras and two LiDAR sensors, which use lasers to measure distances and create detailed maps of the road as well as whatever above-ground structures it detects.
“It maps every imperfection on that road, whether it be bumps, rutting (or) potholes,” Sanford said. “It creates a report.”
The report grades the road against the Pavement Condition Index, which calculates the condition of the road’s pavement on a scale of zero to 100, with 100 representing a perfect score.
From there, Stafford said Neel Schaffer can start preparing plans for addressing the roads in need of repair.
“Our conversation then will be, ‘How much money do you want to spend a year?’ or ‘What paving condition do you want to get all your streets in and at what timeframe?’” Stafford said.
But because the data is based on a drive through of the roads on one particular day, he said it will need to be periodically updated.
“This data is going to be good no sooner than three years, no later than probably five or six,” Stafford told the council. “We’ll want them to come back and do this again and the city of Columbus continue to analyze this probably every … five years.”
Bringing trees to community parks
Also during the Wednesday work session, Tree Board member Birney Imes III presented two ideas from the board, including a plan to install trees at community parks in the city, starting with Hank Aaron Park on 12th Avenue South.
The long-term goal of the project would also see trees added at Sim Scott Park on 20th Street North and Townsend Park on 15th Street South.
“Each of those parks at one time, straightline winds or tornadoes that removed the trees at the parks,” Imes told the council. “… Trees are going to just increase the value (and) livability of these areas. It will be cooler where people gather. It will just enhance these neighborhood parks.”
The project would see between eight and 10 native trees installed at the park, funded by a grant through the Mississippi Forestry Commission for between $3,500 and $4,000.
Imes said another idea from the board would add signage to trees on either side of the Columbus Riverwalk identifying what kind of tree it is, its common and scientific names and additional facts about the tree.
Disclaimer: Birney Imes III is the former publisher of The Dispatch.
McRae is a general assignment and education reporter for The Dispatch.
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