JACKSON STREET WORK PROCEEDS

JACKSON -- Construction work on several major capital improvement projects in Jackson should soon be in full swing.

Some of the projects are already under way, including the Jackson Trails extension from Highway 25 west to Lee Avenue in the Jackson Industrial Park. Others, such as the Bainbridge Road improvement and the East Jackson Boulevard water and sewer line extension project, will soon be under construction.

City Engineer Rich Bowen said the long-awaited Bainbridge Road project will likely begin sometime next month. On Monday, Fronabarger Concrete Finishing of Jackson was awarded the contract for the job after submitting the low bid of $185,314,25. The project will consist of paving 2,861 feet of Bainbridge Road with a 33-foot-wide, six-inch concrete pavement from the intersection of Old Cape Road to a point 500 feet east of the intersection with Donna. The work will include installation of curbs and gutters.

Bowen said the cost to the abutting property owners will be approximately $10 per front foot. "It won't be anymore than that, but it sure won't be much less than that," he added.

The East Jackson Boulevard water and sewer projects are now under contract, and work on the water main extension began Wednesday, Bowen said.

He said the contractor, Mark Skinner Inc., delivered the first load of water pipe for the project this week. Skinner will install 4,400 feet of six- and eight-inch water lines from the intersection of Old Cape Road eastward along East Jackson Boulevard to Turkey Hill Road (County Road 307). The water and sewer lines will serve new areas that have been brought into the city limits. Skinner's bid on the project was $43,435.

Bowen said work on the first phase of the sewer extension project along East Jackson should begin within three to four weeks.

The work will include installation of a gravity sewer line from the existing Williams Creek lift station eastward to the top of the hill, near the Milton Nitsch residence.

The second phase of the project, which will be bid later, includes construction of a lift station near the intersection of County Roads 312 and 316, west of Highway 61. A forced sewer main will extend from the new lift station westward to the top of the hill near the Nitsch residence, where it will join the gravity sewer line to the Williams Creek lift station.

Bowen said site work and grading for the Jackson Trails extension from Highway 25 to Lee Avenue started last fall, but stopped when winter weather set in. However, work on the Jackson Trails bridge over Hubble Creek continued during the winter. Bowen said the bridge is nearly completed. "The entire project is well ahead of schedule," he said, adding that paving of the 24-foot-wide concrete street should begin in April or as soon as the weather permits.

The new street will connect with the Jackson Industrial Park and should relieve the major traffic congestion that now exists on Lee Avenue at the intersection of Highways 61 and 25, Bowen said.

"Right now, this intersection is the only way in and out of the industrial park area," he said.

Another major project is the reconstruction of 1.7 miles of a city-owned, 34.5-kilovolt power line to meet future growth and demand in the eastern part of the town and along East Jackson Boulevard. The contractor for the work, Big D Inc. of Eldorado, Ill., started work earlier this month. Cost of the project is $110,000.

Although not a city project, the board of aldermen on Monday approved the Phase Two, Bent Creek subdivision plat submitted by Rob Litzelfelner.

The plat will include about 30 or 31 lots, ranging in size from a half-acre to 1 acres. The planning and zoning commission had recommended approval of the plat.

Litzelfelner told the aldermen that 18 of the 21 lots in the original Phase One development have now been sold.

He also discussed future plans for a condominium complex that will be located adjacent to the Bent Creek Golf Course. The development will mark the first condominiums in Jackson. Litzelfelner said the condos will probably be a mix of ranch-style and townhouse units.