Bridges on and around Anchor Lake Road to be replaced
During Monday’s meeting of the Pearl River County Board of Supervisors, the board heard a number of updates from County Engineer Les Dungan.
Dungan told the the board that he was pleased with the bids received for the HVAC replacement project at the jail in Millard and he recommended the board to accept Universal’s bid in the amount of $118,650.00 to install a 75 ton Trane Intellipak SEHLF air conditioning unit. Dungan said this project will require a crane to put the unit in place on a platform between two buildings at the jail complex.
Dungan (standing) said the plan was to replace the unit this time of year when the temperatures outside are cooler and thus it would me more tolerable for the employees in the jail who will have to deal with a few days without air conditioning. Dungan said the new system is more efficient than the unit to be replaced. He also reminded the Supervisors that there are still two more units at the jail that are of about the same age (15 years) of the unit that is being replaced. Dungan expects those units to be in need of replacement in the near future.
Dungan also gave the board an update on the two timber piling bridges located on Anchor Lake Road. The first bridge, which is already under contract ,is located on Anchor Lake Road between Stone Hollow Trace and Dove Ridge Road that spans Mill Creek. The second bridge is located on the east side of the I-59 between Taylors Trail and E.Boley Road.
Dungan stated that the second bridge had repairs performed on it last year. This bridge was constructed with state aid funds many years ago and the deck and top of the bridge is not pre-cast, but instead, the method of construction used at the time the bridge was built was to cast the concrete around the timber pilings. Dungan recommended to the board to apply to replace the bridge with state aid funds.
Dungan told the board there were two programming efforts that he recommends the county undertake. First, he suggests to move forward with reprogramming the bridge on McNeill Steephollow Road. That bridge was to be closed by state order after inspection and the county repaired it using two tank car culverts in order to keep the bridge open.
Originally, the bridge was programmed with the plan of receiving 75 percent federal aid and 25 percent state aid. Dungan explained that there is not a timetable for receiving federal funds due to the cost of bridge inspections over the past couple of years and that 25 percent of the county’s state aid money is already tied up in the McNeill Steephollow project.
Dungan told the board that he now recommends to reprogram the bridge project for 75 percent federal funds and 25 percent local match. He explained that it is just a matter of paperwork, in that once the bridge gets federal funds, they can reprogram the bridge again because by that time a new allotment of state aid funds should be available. County administrator Adrain Lumpkin added that there are still two other bridges ahead of this bridge waiting on federal funding, so the timing makes sense.
Dungan’s second recommendation was to program the bridge on Anchor Lake Road on the east side of the interstate. This is the last bridge on timber pilings eligible for state aid money. The board approved Dungan’s recommendation to do both programming efforts.
Board President and District 5 Supervisor Sandy Kane Smith reminded the board that he and Dungan would be meeting with the POA (Property Owners Association) of Anchor Lake on Tuesday to discuss the bridge on Lakeside Drive that will also have to be replaced. Dungan said the project is currently waiting on responses from utilities including Charter, AT&T, Mississippi Power, and Pearl River Central Water Association to agree on the relocation of utilities. Dungan said it will be a few more weeks before bids can be released for the project and he said this funding will come from the LSBP (Local System Bridge Replacement and Rehabilitation Program).
