The $6 million road trip

By Staff
May 2, 2004
The bids are in now and Meridian's proposed street repaving program has taken another step toward a long-delayed beginning. As if you need a reminder, the city's had the money since August 2003 but, according to the mayor, was just waiting for the right time to tap into the asphalt market.
There's nothing magic about the date the bids were received April 29, 2004 and delaying the project doesn't seem to have made any difference in the costs; suffice it to say if there were any savings, they are invisible at this point. During the time city officials have held the money, however, streets have undeniably deteriorated.
To no one's surprise, APAC of Mississippi submitted the low bid of about $4.3 million for milling, striping, gutter work and about 50,000 tons of asphalt at $46 per ton for about 46 miles of street repairs. The remaining portion of a $6 million loan will be used for other street projects, including the mayor's pet project to four-lane North Hills Street from 10th Avenue to Highway 39 North.
APAC is Mississippi's largest asphalt company and was already doing repaving work on Highway 39; in fact, APAC was doing paving work Highway 39 through the winter months when Meridian city officials said paving couldn't be done.
But then city officials also told citizens an interchange at Sweet Gum Bottom Road to serve the I 20/59 industrial park couldn't be done either. They ate a little crow when they were directed by federal authorities to study guess what an interchange at Sweet Gum Bottom Road. But that's another story.
Many citizens have looked forward to the pleasure of driving on better streets for years, and there has been a great deal of public discussion and comment on the condition of streets in Meridian over the past year. People are talking about it in coffee clubs, barber shops, restaurants, talk radio, letters to the editor; in fact, the repaving proposal has been years in the making.
But the person most responsible for the delays Mayor John Robert Smith will probably have to read about the bid opening in the newspaper because when the bids were opened, his office reported he was out of town. Maybe citizens will hear from him soon.
Hopefully, subterfuge in the city's $6 million road trip can end now, covered over in a fresh topping of asphalt. Ah, the sweet smell of progress.