Progress Being Made On Georgia Street Project

Progress is being made along historic Georgia Street which is one part of an overall effort for street and utility improvement throughout the town.

In 2015 residents in Louisiana approved a one-half percent sales tax for transportation projects and a one-quarter percent sales tax for storm water drainage projects. This kicked off a major effort on Georgia Street.

The project will ultimately include new water distribution lines, storm water drainage, sanitary sewer replacement and street repaving. There will also be new sidewalks on the south side of the street.

The total project is budgeted at about $4.5 million. The city is paying for the project through the issuance of Certificates of Participation which will be paid off over a period of years using revenue from the two sales taxes, plus additional water and sewer fees.

Due to the costs of the project, the city council decided in 2016 that work would be focused from 4th Street to 23rd Street. The roadway will be repaved from 23rd Street west to the city limits. Work had been done previously from Main Street to 4th Street.

At this point, repaving from 23rd Street west and sanitary sewer work has been completed.

City crews are currently working on replacing all of the main water lines.

Mayor Marvin Brown pointed out that the work for replacement of storm water drains has been put out for bid.

“This particular work was required under an agreement with The Missouri Department of Natural Resources, whereby we needed to ensure that storm water drainage did not infiltrate the sanitary sewer system,” he explained. “In the past heavy rains would cause connected storm sewers to overload the sewage treatment plant and this situation had to be corrected.”

Brown reported that bids should be put out for the sidewalk and gutter replacement work this month.

“The remaining re-pavement work will be let sometime after that and include going down deep enough to refurbish the base, which will help the long term stability of the surface,” Brown remarked.

He added that the Missouri Department of Transportation is planning a major rework of Third Street now that the new Champ Clark Bridge has been opened.

Work along Georgia Street has taken time since the city coordinated work with utility companies such as AT&T so the street wouldn’t have to be torn up in the future.

Brown estimates that work along Georgia Street will likely be completed by next summer.