Jackson awards street repair contract, hopes to add to list

City streets in Jackson will undergo major concrete repairs during the next few months.

The city awarded a $135,205 contract to Fronabarger Concreters Inc. of Oak Ridge to repair 27 streets through its annual concrete street repair program. Work is scheduled to begin in the next couple of weeks and should be complete by the end of November.

Funding for the repairs comes after a lawsuit was settled between Cape Girardeau County and the city of Jackson regarding the allotment of the county road and bridge tax revenue. The disagreement was over whether the county owed the city 25 percent of county road and bridge tax revenue it collected from residents of Jackson as provided in state statutes.

When the dispute ended last year, the county began paying Jackson its 25 percent, roughly $80,000. Along with the 25 percent, the county has five years to pay Jackson $350,000 in back payments, which figures to be $70,000 per year. The funding from the county must go toward city road and bridge projects.

This year, concrete repairs will be made to the following streets: Normandy Lane, Briarwood Street, Adams Street, Oak Street, Maryland Street, Nellie Street, Jessica Street, Rebecca Street, Clark Street, Greensferry Road, Corrine Street, Tracy Street, North Street, Sycamore Street, Old Cape Road, Bainbridge Road, Shawnee Boulevard, Cherokee Street, Sioux Avenue, Pawnee Avenue, Apache Avenue, Royal Drive, Jackson Trail, Shady Lane, Lemming Lane, Washington Street and Georgia Street.

The repairs involve reconstruction of portions of the street, city engineer Kent Peetz said.

"In some cases, the storm sewer or wastewater sewer may be repaired under the street if they are contributing to the failure of the street. There will be a couple pipes repaired as part of this year's contract," he said.

Streets are prioritized to be repaired by their condition. "This can include many factors, such as the size of the repair, cause of failure and type of failure," Peetz said. "We have a running list of streets around town that need repairs."

Because the bid came in under the estimated cost for the repairs, Peetz said the city could put additional streets on the list.

"There were several streets cut out of the list that we'll most likely try to get done. There are always more repairs needed than what the budget will handle in one year," Peetz said. "The bids this time came in real good, so we should be able to get more streets repaired."

During construction, there may be a certain amount of inconvenience to residents and business owners in the area of the repairs, city officials said. Individual lanes may be closed or shifted during the day to complete the work.

jfreeze@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 246