Paving on Canal is not complete

Published 4:12 pm Friday, December 4, 2009

Paving work that was recently conducted on East Canal was only the first step in making that road easier to travel along. There is more work planned to finish Canal, and a separate paving project is set to start on Palestine Road.

City Manager Harvey Miller said city employees have been swamped with phone calls from concerned citizens about the current state of Canal Street. The calls started after some initial paving work took place because they are concerned that the work was complete even though the road still has rough spots. Miller said the work that recently was completed is only the initial phase of the paving.

The work, which is part of the Downtown Revitalization Project, will involve another inch and a half of asphalt being added to the road’s surface. Even though the initial work made the road smoother to travel, there are still spots in the road that are rough or which show the underlying layer of pavement.

Sign up for our daily email newsletter

Get the latest news sent to your inbox

“It’s much better than it was as it is now, but it’s not through yet,” Miller said.

Miller said the initial layer of asphalt was added to level and repair the subsurface of the road. The rest of the paving will take place in the next couple of weeks.

Palestine Road also will receive have some paving work done along it through a different grant program. Funds to conduct the work are part of the Mississippi Department of Transportation Stimulus grant program.

In mid November, the citythought it would have to cut the scope of Palestine Road’s paving work down from 1.6 miles to 0.9 miles. Miller said after bids for the project came in, the city found that it could pave almost the entire length of Palestine, including where it turns into Crosby Street. The work will start at the intersection of Crosby and West Canal Streets and follow Palestine all the way to about 100 yards past the corner of Neal and Palestine Roads.

He expects work on Palestine to begin in the next couple of months. That work also will involve removing the rail road tracks that cross Palestine Road just before the corner of Union School and Palestine Roads.