Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Street project half done

About 50 percent of the streets in Prescott have been overlaid for the street project.

Mike Marlar, with Marlar Engineering, told the Prescott City Council, at its December meeting, the contractor wants to stop working on the streets until the weather warms up. The project is currently ahead of schedule, he said, and the delay won't affect the deadline.

But, he added, when the temperature falls below 45 degrees it's not a good idea to try and lay asphalt.

Questions were raised by members of the Council concerning the quality of the street work being done, such as bumps at intersections and the streets not being the same height in the middle.

Joe Elrod, project superintendent, said the contractor isn't matching the grade at intersections, but this will be corrected before the project is done.

Marlar said with the work being delayed until warmer weather, it is a good time for the council to identify areas of concern so the problems can be taken care of.

He said Elrod has been checking the linear footage of the streets done, with the results being close, and the contractor is using the right thickness of asphalt when paving. The idea, Marlar said, is to maintain a certain slope to the streets for drainage.

There were also complaints about drainage with the street project. Elrod pointed out the area received 22 inches of rain in October and November, and no matter what was being done there would be a drainage problem. "I've been here 15 months," he said, "and every time there's been a heavy rain there have been problems. With this much rain we're going to have problems."

Jon Chadwell, executive director of the Prescott-Nevada County Economic Development Office, said when the street project was being discussed, drainage repair wasn't talked about.

When the Council talked about widening and redoing the draining on Martin and Moore streets, he said, talk ceased when it was learned what it would cost. "We'll find problems when the overlay is done and we need to address them and mark places where water stands after a big rain so we can see what needs to be done."

Marlar also updated the Council on the sidewalk project saying the general contractor had financial problems, but is close to being finished. A final inspection of the sidewalks was scheduled for Dec. 29, with representatives from the Arkansas Highway Department to be on hand to make sure the sidewalks meet the Americans with Disability Act (ADA) standards.

However, it was pointed out the recent work done on sidewalk project didn't cost the city anything because the contractor was considerably past the deadline.