STARKVILLE — Whether in the air or below ground, Starkville Utilities has wasted no time upgrading infrastructure downtown this summer.
While crews from DNA Underground have been working on water upgrades on Main Street since May 22, crews from KCI Technologies have been working on power lines in the downtown area for the past several weeks, working on streets like East Lampkin and Washington.
Edward Kemp, general manager for Starkville Utilities Department, said electrical work downtown is a part of a $1.58 million “off-corridor” electrical project preparing the city for the Highway 182 revitalization project.
“It’s kind of a prequel, if you will,” Kemp said. “We’re having to redistribute those lines in other parts of town, (so) we can remove the poles and the distribution circuit lines that are along 182. So our plan is to have the off-corridor fully completed and energized, accepted and taken over, before the 182 project kicks off.”
Kemp said the work — which started with roads in the north of the city last summer, but recently moved south toward downtown — includes replacing wooden utility poles with taller concrete utility poles, along with higher capacity lines in some areas. He said the new poles will help to create a longer-lasting system.
“Having a more modern system always helps,” Kemp said. “That’s indicative of what we try to do around town, both on the electric side and on the water side, too. We constantly are reinvesting into the system to upgrade it and make it more resilient.”
Kemp said the off-corridor electrical work should be completed within 30 to 60 days, but city residents will see the full effects of the changes when power lines and poles are removed from Highway 182 and direct work on the revitalization project begins. Bids on that work are due by Tuesday, after which a construction timeline can be determined, Mayor Lynn Spruill said.
This project has been in the works for years, as city officials unveiled a new plan for the Highway 182 corridor as early as 2021. This new design includes water and sewer upgrades, along with medians, decorative concrete, a walking/biking path, additional side street parking, and more tying the highway to downtown. The project area will extend roughly a mile between Old West Point Road and North Long Street/Ernest H. Jones Jr. Drive.
Originally, the Hwy 182 revitalization project was estimated to cost about $15.8 million, but Spruill told The Dispatch rising costs in materials have raised the costs to approximately $35 million, but exact costs are unknown until the project bids come back.
Spruill said a U.S. Department of Transportation Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development grant worth $12.66 million will be used to fund the project, along with $10 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds. She said the city is still determining how to fund the remainder.
Spruill said current work to reroute power in the city will help with the aesthetic parts of the revitalization project, but more importantly, the Highway 182 project will improve the long-term health of the city’s infrastructure.
“I would like to think that our residents have a full understanding of the importance of us replacing our infrastructure,” Spruill said.
“What will take us about two years to do will last us for another 75 to 100 years. So, when you think about the inconvenience — and it is inconvenient — it is even more inconvenient when you have water leaks and (other) problems.”
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