Project will enlarge culvert, widen creek crossing

RUSSELLVILLE — A $120,000 improvement project on a busy city street will not only enlarge the size of the drainage culverts, but also the width of a street used to access Russellville City Schools.

District 1 City Councilman David Palmer said the project involves replacing decades old concrete pipes with a larger concrete box culvert on Harrison Avenue.

He said the existing round concrete pipes have probably been in place about 50 years.

“They’re dilapidated, they’re coming apart,” Palmer said.

He said the culvert is being installed where Harrison Avenue crosses a tributary of Town Creek.

Harrison Avenue also narrowed to about 17 feet at the creek crossing due to the width of the old culverts, Palmer said.

The new culvert will be 40 feet wide and have a 10-foot by 4-foot opening.

The new width will allow for a 20-foot-wide roadway with 10-foot shoulders, Palmer said.

He said the existing crossing has no shoulders.

“It’s got about 1,500 vehicles a day on it,” Palmer said of the roadway. “That’s why we needed to do that.”

Harrison Avenue, Palmer said, connects with Duncan Creek Road.

“It’s one of the main roads that goes up to the [high school] campus,” he said. “People use it to get to any one of the schools, to ballgames. It’s kind of a little short cut.”

Palmer said Harrison Avenue is scheduled for a $4 million resurfacing project, but that’s been delayed until the culvert is completed.

“When we finish up, we’ll come back and pave that street,” he said.

He said the project lacks two to three streets from being completed.

Gillespie Construction of Jasper is completing the culvert construction.