JACKSON STREET PAVING APPROVED

JACKSON -- A paving project approved by aldermen this week should make it easier for motorists to access Old Cape Road and Jackson Boulevard.

Fronabarger Concreters Inc. have been awarded the $97,455 contract for paving Gloria Drive from Old Cape Road to Jackson Boulevard.

The city undertook the engineering for the project at the request of property owners along the road, said City Administrator Steve Wilson.

"There has been an increase in traffic because of some of the development in that part of town," Wilson said. "The dust has become a real problem."

The landowners will pay for the cost of paving the road, he said, and will be billed per linear foot of road frontage on their property.

No protests were registered on the plan, he said.

No start date has been set for the work, but it should be finished this fall, Wilson said.

Another paving project coming up is the Independence Street project.

Mayor Paul Sander said Monday night that aldermen will award the contract for paving Independence, Olive and Forest streets at the Oct. 7 meeting.

That project should also begin this fall, Wilson said.

The project calls for paving Independence from Forest Street to Hubble Creek, Olive Street from Greensferry Road to Forest and Forest from Independence to Olive.

Property owners along those streets will also pick up the paving costs, estimated at $46.68 per lineal foot.

If bids come in higher than engineering estimates, the project will be scrapped.

The project was almost dropped because a majority of the 24 resident property owners in the affected area opposed it.

Many complained that their share of the paving costs -- some as high as $15,000 -- was too expensive, and that improving the streets would increase traffic through the residential area.

Enough of the property owners later withdrew their protests to allow the project to go forward.

The city will also kick in about $140,000 to build a low-water bridge over Hubble Creek and to pave Independence Street west to Highway 61.

The city's street policy requires property owners to pay the cost of paving residential side streets, Wilson said.

The city will pick up the cost for paving major arterial roads, he said, but homeowners pick up the cost for paving interior streets because they benefit the most from the work.