A $1.36 million project to replace pavement and upgrade drainage along Max Lockwood Drive – usually the main route into Memorial Park and parking for the Honey Bowen Building – is moving into a new phase. So, beginning Monday, Aug. 17, the little street will close for an estimated 14 weeks, Statesboro’s city government announced.

The closure will “allow for major infrastructure upgrades, including drainage improvements, new curb and gutter, sidewalk construction, utility upgrades, and full reconstruction of the roadway pavement,” the Aug. 12 notice stated.

Actually, because Memorial Park, also known as Fair Road Park, is home to some popular Bulloch County Recreation and Parks Department amenities and programs, county staff also announced the road closure on their social media. But as directions in the notices imply, the recreation facilities will remain open.

A new entrance

The first element of the project, construction of a new entrance to the park, in the form of a driveway from Fair Road just south of the Honey Bowen Building, has already been completed. So that will be the place to turn in and park for access to the building, the playground and the tennis and pickleball courts.

Additionally, overflow parking will be available in the grassed area beyond the existing parking lot south of the building.

Businesses in the shopping center just north of the park, including El Sombrero Mexican Bar & Grill and Holiday Pizza, also have an interest in getting the word out. Max Lockwood Drive, officially a one-way city street, is often used as an entrance to the parking areas for these businesses from Fair Road and a shortcut onto South Zetterower Avenue.

So, while Max Lockwood Drive is closed, customers driving to these businesses will need to enter by way of the shopping center parking lot’s actual entrance, on Fair Road just north of the closed street, and exit by way of that parking lot’s intended exit, to the north past the end of El Sombrero.

Paving & drainage

The cracked and pitted appearance of the old Max Lockwood Drive surface reveals one reason for the project.

“We're going to basically tear up the current pavement and put some thicker pavement in there. The original pavement was too thin,” city Public Works and Engineering Director Brad Deal said in a late June interview.

But as suggested by a photo the city staff posted online last week of a quantity of concrete storm drainage structures set out on the ground awaiting this next phase, the project addresses more than a need for repaving.

“Also, we're adding curbs and gutters and drainage – specifically a new drainage pipe and new drain inlets will be installed,” Deal said. “There are some existing drainage problems there, especially around the Honey Bowen Building where the water comes off of the El Sombrero parking lot.”

That was also during the interview with Herald editor Jim Healy the last week of June, when Deal said the entire project was expected to take about six months. Already at that time, ground was being cleared for the new driveway from Fair Road.

On schedule

Now, just over seven weeks later, the prediction is for a road closure starting Monday and lasting about 14 weeks. So that would add up to 21 to 22 weeks, or maybe five months.

“After the street reopens, some minor items will remain to complete the project,” Deal replied in an email Friday. “However, according to their proposed schedule, our contractor may complete the project in less than six months, which was our original estimate.”

The prime contractor on the project, for which $1.36 million is still the approved amount, is a local company, Ellis Wood Contracting.