Bulloch County and the city of Statesboro are spending roughly $4.47 million this summer through separate contracts with two different paving companies to resurface a little over 16 miles of pitted, cracked or otherwise worn but previously paved roads.
Both local governments’ funding sources for this work consist of the Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax — or T-SPLOST, which was authorized by local voters to be divided among the county government and the four cities in Bulloch County — plus the annual Local Maintenance and Improvement Grants, or LMIGs, from the state through the Georgia Department of Transportation.
The Bulloch County Board of Commissioners at its Aug. 1 meeting awarded a $2,524,950 contract to Reeves Construction, as low bidder, for resurfacing a total of 10.06 miles of pavement on 13 different roads.
“The list this year has about 10 miles of roads on it, which is a little bit shorter than what we have had in the past,” County Engineer Brad Deal told the commissioners. “We used to be able to resurface about a mile of road for $150,000. Now it’s about $250,000 for a mile of resurfacing, so that’s kind of cut down on what we’ve been able to do.”
This year the county received $1,637,310.10 in state LMIG funds, so the remaining $887,639.90 will come from T-SPLOST, he said in response to a follow-up email. The only other bidder for the county’s repaving list was McLendon Enterprises, whose base bid of $2,558,732 was higher than Reeve’s base bid of $2.33 million plus three added alternate projects.
County road list
On the county’s list, the longest stretch of pavement being resurfaced is 3.39 miles of P.W. Clifton Road from Stilson-Leefield Road to Old River Road South. Second longest is 2.7 miles of Lotts Creek Road from Joe Hodges Road to the Candler County line, and those two make up 60% of the total mileage on the list.
Third is almost one mile, 0.98 mile to be exact, of Joe Hodges Road from Pulaski Road to Lotts Creek Road. Fourth in length is the 0.91 mile of Westside Road from Veterans Memorial Parkway to the Statesboro city limits.
Deal noted that a number of public streets in the Grove Lakes South subdivision are being resurfaced. Interconnecting road segments to be repaved there include 0.43 mile of Longwood Drive from Meadow Drive to its end; 0.26 mile of Meadow Drive from Slough Creek Road to South Pineview Road; 0.2 mile of Slough Creek Road from Pretoria Rushing Road to Longwood Drive and 0.17 mile of South Pineview Road, also from Pretoria Rushing Road to Longwood Drive.
Randy Lowery Road South is scheduled be resurfaced for 0.4 mile, to its end, from U.S. Highway 301 North. Harris St. and Helen Court are to be resurfaced 0.29 mile, from their end to Cypress Lake Road. Riggs Circle is to be resurfaced, its 0.23 mile starting and ending at Cypress Lake Road. The two shortest segments, one-20th (0.05) of a mile each, are S&L Lane from Stilson Lane to Stilson-Leefield Road and Woodrum Road from its end to Mobley Drive.
City contract
Statesboro City Council had, on July 18, awarded Sikes Brothers Inc., as low bidder, a $1,942,128 contract for resurfacing a total of 6.28 miles on portions of 24 different streets and roads. As the next higher bidder, Reeves had asked $2.65 million for the city’s contract.
“Inflation has impacted this as well,” City Manager Charles Penny told the council. “The good thing is, our voters did approve T-SPLOST, and we anticipated increasing our contribution out of T-SPLOST toward resurfacing.”
The city had $330,676 in state LMIG funding available for resurfacing, so the other $1,611,452 will come from the city’s share of T-SPLOST, according to the city staff’s memo to council.
The city government divides its annual repaving projects among the five City Council districts.
In District 1, the segments for repaving include Kingswood Avenue for 0.26 mile from Marsham Drive to Harwood Street; Friar Tuck Trail, 0.05 mile to its terminus from Zetterower Road; Rosemary Court, 0.04 mile to its terminus from Northlake Drive; Raymond Street, 0.27 mile from Reed Street to Tamo Lane; Westlake Drive, 0.33 mile from Zetterower Road from North Main Street; Shelby Street, 0.49 mile from East Parrish Street to Matthews Road.
In District 2, the segments are Loretha Street, 0.14 mile from Stockyard Road to Donnie Simmons Way; Morris Street, 0.33 mile from Donnie Simmons Way to Proctor Street; Len Tenner Court, 0.06 mile to its terminus from Morris Street; Ridgewood Drive, 0.08 mile from Jewel Drive to Aldred Avenue; Jewel Drive, 0.42 mile from North College Street to West Parrish Street; Wilma Street, 0.04 mile to its terminus from Foss Street; Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, 0.26 mile from Northside Drive West to Hart Lane.
In District 3, resurfacing is ordered on Gentilly Road for 0.09 mile from East Grady Street to Savannah Avenue; on Donehoo Street for 0.38 mile from Savannah Avenue to Outland Street; on College Boulevard (northbound) for 0.61 mile from Savannah Avenue to Stillwell Street.
In District 4, resurfacing segments include Harvey Drive, for 0.25 mile from Chandler Road to Lanier Drive; Mike Ann Drive, for 0.12 mile from Georgia Avenue to West Gentilly Road; O’Neal Drive for 0.12 mile from Georgia Avenue to Gentilly Road; North Edgewood Drive for 0.66 mile from Gentilly Road to Holly Drive.
In District 5, the list includes Arch Way for 0.06 mile from Fair Road to the entrance to Surcheros restaurant; Lovett Road for 0.34 mile from Brannen Street to Northside Drive East; Jones Mill Road for 0.37 mile from Veterans Memorial Parkway to Beasley Road, and Cawana Road, for 0.52 mile from S&S Railroad Bed Road to the city limits.
The memo noted that the contract includes asphalt milling, shoulder dressing, permanent grassing and the reinstallation of thermoplastic roadway striping, as well as the actual asphalt repaving.