STARKVILLE — The city is the proud owner of about a mile of former state highway.
Aldermen voted unanimously during their Tuesday meeting at City Hall to accept ownership and maintenance responsibility for a section of Highway 182, from Old West Point Road to Roosevelt Taylor Sr. Street.
The city requested ownership of that stretch of road from the Mississippi Department of Transportation in August with hopes of moving forward with a revitalization project for the corridor, which is supported by a $12.6 million Federal Highway Administration grant.
City ownership allows it to install water, sewer and drainage infrastructure underneath the roadway, whereas MDOT guidelines require such infrastructure to be installed in the right-of-way outside the road. With more space to build underground utilities, the city could save millions of dollars on the overall project.
“To me, it’s very exciting,” Mayor Lynn Spruill said during the meeting. “It’s an opportunity for us to make those improvements to our infrastructure.”
The city received the federal Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) grant in 2019, with plans to reduce the road to two lanes divided by landscaped medians and add pedestrian/bike lanes to flank each side of the street, among other things.
Along with beautification and improving drainage, it aims to spur economic development in the corridor.
Aldermen opted to use American Rescue Plan Act funds for the water, sewer and drainage improvements, for which the state offered a 100% match.
Counting the BUILD grant and $3.5 million local match, as well as $10.2 million in ARPA/match, the city has a little more than $25 million on hand to dedicate to the revitalization. Based on bids the city received in August, the total cost would come closer to $42 million under state highway guidelines.
The city rejected those bids and instead requested MDOT cede ownership of the project area. In September, aldermen approved paying Kimley Horn and Associates an additional $461,747 to redesign the project with the eased utilities specifications. The firm provided the original project design for roughly $1.7 million.
ARPA has to be dedicated by the end of 2024 and spent by 2026. Without an extension, the BUILD grant requires substantial completion by July 2025 and full completion by the end of 2026.
City Engineer Cody Burnett said he hopes the completed redesign can be submitted to the Federal Highway Commission in January, and the city can advertise for new bids in March, which should allow enough time to meet the grant deadline.
At the very least, Spruill said, the ARPA-funded pieces will be completed, even if the entire revitalization project doesn’t materialize.
Concrete and compromise
Ward 5 Alderman Hamp Beatty voiced concerns right away about taking over the state highway, calling it an “act of desperation” to save the grant and a “terrible policy decision.” But he voted Tuesday to approve it.
Initially, he was worried about long-term maintenance costs, especially with the original concrete highway — which has been overlaid with asphalt several times since — causing issues with joints in the pavement.
Spruill assured Beatty workers will break up that concrete when installing the utilities, which should mitigate jointing once the road is repaved.
“Once it’s removed, the maintenance of that street will be a lot easier,” Beatty told The Dispatch after the meeting.
Beatty had also hoped MDOT would pay for one more overlay of the road, something it has done when ceding highways elsewhere.
Spruill first said she would request that from MDOT, but she told The Dispatch on Tuesday that is a no-go.
“They told me it’s not really coming close to needing a scheduled overlay, and that we’re already getting a concession (from them) because they usually make you take a highway from city limit to city limit,” she said. “So, I’m happy to have what we need to get this project done.”
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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