Tupelo gears up for more drainage projects

CALEB MCCLUSKEY, Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, Tupelo
·2 min read

TUPELO — Tupelo continues to move forward on a host of American Rescue Plan Act funded projects, with officials to complete all ARPA projects by the end of the year or early next year.

The Tupelo City Council voted unanimously among present members to approve three contracts with Grenda-based Townes Construction: $284,457 for a pipe replacement on Holly Hill Drive, $512,626 for a box culvert replacement on Barnes Crossing Road and $183,768 for a pipe replacement from Ford Circle to Nixon Circle.

Williams said both the projects on Holly Hill and Ford to Nixon are both to replace aged, rusted pipe in residential neighborhoods. He said the projects on Holly hill and Ford to Nixon should take a couple weeks at most.

“(Holly Hill) is just another one of these 30-year-old pipe jobs where metal pipe is rusted out and deteriorating. It is just a big ticket maintenance thing for us,” Williams said.

While the box culvert on Barnes Crossing is also in the residential portion of the street, it is more involved. Once replaced, he said, the drainage capacity and safety will increase significantly. The project also came in significantly under the $795,355 engineer’s estimate.

Meanwhile, other already bid ARPA projects recently had their contracts approved, with a project on Ridgeway scheduled to begin soon.

There are three projects left with 14 total projects scheduled for the Public Works Department. They will be at Daniel Cove, Haven Acres and Chickasaw Trail. Williams said the projects should have contracts approved by late July to early August. He said the bulk of the projects should be done by the end of the year, but if they aren’t finished by the fall, they will take a break and pick back up in the spring.