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Local firm in line for crossing work
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| By THERESE APEL, DAILY LEADER Staff Writer |
November 02, 2009 |
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A local highway construction firm has submitted the low bid for the work on the infamous intersection of Highway 84 and Jackson-Liberty Drive, officials said Monday, though the bid award will not take place until the paperwork is approved.
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Laird's Crossing, as the intersection is known, has been the site of numerous accidents - more than 36 since 2006, which is three times as many as any other intersection along Highway 84. A public outcry after two fatalities two months apart earlier this year led Mississippi Department of Transportation officials to put up four new stop signs and other yellow road signs, all with flashing lights.
MDOT officials confirmed that Brookhaven-based Dickerson & Bowen submitted the low bid for the project to raise the grade of a dip in the road, which obstructs visibility to motorists coming off Jackson-Liberty. The state estimated the work could cost around $433,000, but Dickerson and Bowen submitted a bid of $380,507.30.
The only other bidder was Natchez firm W.E. Blain & Sons, who submitted a bid of $399,292.50, said MDOT construction engineer Ken Morris.
"The way it happens is we have the bid opening, and they go through and check all the bids, and if everything is filled out correctly, it goes to the lowest bidder," he said. "But the commission has to meet and award it."
Officials said the commission meets on the second and fourth Tuesday. The next commission meeting is scheduled for Nov. 10.
Morris said the project will not only involve raising the grade and adding new striping, but will also approach the problem of a bank that makes visibility westward harder for those headed south on Jackson-Liberty Drive.
"On the north side of the highway when you come down from the local road and look to your right, there's a bank that we're going to cut so you can see back toward the west," Morris said.
MDOT officials also reassured community members, around 8,000 of whom have signed a petition asking for preventive measures to be taken at the intersection, that the progress made so far will continue.
"We're not taking anything away," Morris said of the six stop signs that warn people to stop not only at Jackson-Liberty, but in the median.
Dickerson & Bowen part-owner Cecil Estess said if his company is awarded the bid, they will get to work on the situation as soon as the weather permits. He said he believes the original notice to proceed may not go into place until Spring, but MDOT officials said companies are allowed to request an early notice to proceed.
"It's going to depend on the weather, we'll do it as quickly as we can, but you have to have temperatures enough to do it," he said. "When you get started on something like this, it won't take very long, and you don't want to be pulling on and off of it, you want to go ahead and finish it."
Estess said until the paperwork is approved and the bid is awarded, he really can't give any more of a clear estimate, but that since his company is based in Lincoln County, he's aware of what the project means to the citizens of West Lincoln.
"If we get the chance to do it, just knowing the situation, we'll put it in as soon as we can," he said.
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©The Daily Leader 2009
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