Supervisors get update from County Engineer on projects and bids
During yesterday’s meeting of the Pearl River County Board of Supervisors, the board receive an update from County Engineer Les Dungan on a number of projects and bids.
Dungan recommended that the Supervisors award the project for replacement of a bridge on Nellie Burks Road to Pearl River Paving, LLC in the amount of $174,218.50. Dungan pointed out that the money for this project will come from the Local System Bridge Replacement and Rehabilitation Program (LSBP), which was just recently funded by the state legislature for last year and this year.
Dungan noted that with the number of bridges in the county with timber pilings (originally 30 bridges) and with the amount of funding available, it will difficult to address all the bridges.
Dungan informed the Supervisors that he only received one bid for the County Wide Overlay 2018 project which is for approximately for a total of 13 miles of various county roads. The bid received was for $854,782.00, which Dungan said he was pleased with and was approximately $100,000.00 less than his estimate. After a brief discussion, the board decided to take the bid under advisement at this time.
Dungan told the board that both the Nellie Burks project and the County Wide Overlay 2018 were set up to allow electronic submitting of bids using Central Bidding’s online website. He said he expects to receive bids by May 3 for two bridges using state funds from LSBP; one on Sones Chapel Road and Harry Sones Road. These bridges have been temporarily shored in the past, but will now be replaced using LSBP funding. On June 12, bids will be received for replacement of a bridge on Oscar Smith Road. All three of these bridges are supported by timber pilings.
The bridges on Progress Silver Run road are still being repaired. The bridge at Site A is open to local traffic with just a few items left for that site to be considered complete. Work on Site B has started and Dungan estimated 4 to 6 weeks for that bridge to be open.
In regards to statewide bridge closings via state inspections, Dungan told the board there will be another round of bridge inspections coming in the future since the county still has bridges supported by timber pilings. He said he will continue to work closely with the county to prioritize those that should be dealt with first in the county.
