City Awards Paving Contract
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WATER VALLEY – Water Valley aldermen moved another step closer to improving city streets Wednesday, July 1, by awarding a $1.012 million paving contract during a special meeting at City Hall.
Following a recommendation from Willis Engineering, the board unanimously awarded the contract to Falcon Construction. The bid came in about $30,000 above the engineer’s estimate of $982,000.
The project includes approximately 4,800 tons of asphalt and improvements to an estimated 12 to 15 city streets. Depending on the condition of each roadway, work will range from asphalt overlays to milling and overlay, with some streets also receiving base repairs before paving.
Willis Engineering project engineer Karl Grubb said the contractor expects to begin work later this year after contract documents are completed, a process expected to take about two to four weeks.
“They said they would be ready to start,” Grubb said. “So they plan on doing that this year.”
Grubb said the paving list was developed using data collected through the city’s LiDAR street assessment, making Water Valley among the first north Mississippi municipalities to use the technology to help prioritize street improvements.
Rather than relying solely on visual inspections, engineers analyzed the LiDAR data before conducting field evaluations to determine which streets would provide the greatest benefit within the city’s budget.
“When we came back to the city, we were way over budget because, of course, there’s more need than there’s money,” Grubb said. “But everything that was selected was needed, very needed.”
Mayor Tommy Reynolds said the city is pleased to move forward with one of its largest paving projects in years.
The project is being financed through the city’s street improvement bond program, which will be repaid using Mississippi’s annual Use Tax Dividends rather than local property taxes. Water Valley currently receives about $267,750 each year through the state program, which distributes revenue generated from the use tax, similar to sales tax, for online sales. City officials have previously said about 50 to 60 percent of the annual distribution will be used to retire the 10-year bond, while the remaining funds will continue to support other street improvement needs. Reynolds said the financing allows the city to accelerate more than $1 million in paving improvements years sooner than would otherwise be possible.
