STARKVILLE — The city is one board of aldermen vote away from beginning its long-awaited Highway 182 Revitalization Project in earnest.
The board will consider Tuesday evening a roughly $36.4 million bid from Burns Dirt Construction for general contracting duties. If approved, construction could begin in September or October and be complete by spring 2027, Associate City Engineer Chris Williams said during an aldermen work session Friday at City Hall.
Total project costs will clock in at about $45 million, Williams estimated, once engineering, environmental, contingency and other costs are added. Federal and state funds will cover all but about $2.5 million in matching money the city is required to commit toward a U.S. Department of Transportation Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) grant.
“A lot of hands (touched) this project to get it to where it’s within budget,” Williams said during the work session.
The project area runs about one mile between Old West Point Road and Long Street.
Redesign plans call for reducing the road to two lanes divided by landscaped medians, adding pedestrian/bike lanes to flank each side of the street and installing new underground utilities, among other things. Along with beautification, it aims to spur economic development in the corridor.
Expenses, revenue both increase
Despite the city’s efforts to reduce the project’s costs over the past year — including taking control of the stretch of highway in the project zone from the Mississippi Department of Transportation to cut expenses on underground utility installation — the new total price tag is almost $4 million higher than it was a year ago.
The Burns Dirt bid slated for approval Tuesday is $3.3 million more than the $33.1 million low bid from Necaise Brothers Construction Company that the city rejected in August 2023. Burns bid about $35.5 million last year, still marginally cheaper than the company’s bid this round.
Williams told The Dispatch this round of bidding included more extensive upgrades to the water and sewer system the previous design didn’t allow — meaning the city would get “more bang for the buck.”
The biggest difference for the city between this year and last? It has the money now.
Starkville learned in June it would receive a $20 million Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) grant.
That will add to the $12.6 million BUILD grant it received in 2019 and $10.2 million in American Rescue Plan Act/state match it secured as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The city has already spent about $2.5 million from the BUILD grant on electrical and design work in the corridor, Williams said, and must spend the rest of that money by September 2025 to keep the grant. By that time, the RAISE grant funds should be in hand.
Impact on Henderson Ward Stewart
Williams said the “largest consideration” on the western half of the project area will be traffic flow at Henderson Ward Stewart Elementary School during construction.
Located on “Henderson Hill” off Highway 182, it houses 1,000 students. Williams said it runs 52 buses and 600 carpool vehicles through campus twice a day.
City and school officials met Thursday to discuss options for rerouting traffic, but nothing can be finalized until Burns is under contract and establishes its construction schedule.
Both Williams and Haley Montgomery, Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District’s communications director, said those routes could shift with the construction schedule.
“We’re going to be doing some ‘clutch and shift’ several times,” Montgomery said. “… We’re going to rely on our parents for their patience.”
To reduce inconvenience, both the school and city will communicate construction plans and alternate routes through their websites, social media and messenger/alert platforms throughout the project.
Montgomery said Henderson Ward Stewart parents will receive initial information about the project during open house next week — if nothing else for a “heads up” work is coming.
Construction inconvenience notwithstanding, Montgomery is positive on the project.
“We’re very excited about the 182 project,” she said. “It’s going to be great for Starkville and great for our Henderson Ward Stewart campus.”
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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