By Gary Lloyd
TRUSSVILLE — Rehab is coming for North Chalkville Road in Trussville’s Cahaba Project.
The Trussville City Council last week approved of hiring Gonzalez Strength to design the rehabbing of North Chalkville Road from Rock Ridge Avenue to Hewitt Street, with an estimated total cost of $20,000.
The engineering design will determine costs of physically rehabbing that stretch of roadway. The roadbed of North Chalkville Road is in poor shape, which causes the wear surface not to hold up.
The design will be to rebuild the road entirely, including the base, the binder course that secures the base and the seal coat, as well as curb and gutter repair and sidewalk repair.
Trussville Mayor Gene Melton said the hope for the engineering is to “turn that around quickly” so that the repairing of the road can begin this summer. Melton said some dead trees will be taken down during the completion of the project.
One block will be repaired at a time so that detours can be taken, Melton said. He said he hopes the entire project is completed in a year. He said when complete, that stretch of North Chalkville Road will “ride good, look good.”
In other Trussville road-related news, Melton said a corrugated steel pipe rusted out on a section of Smith Sims Road, causing a collapsed culvert, similar to what happened on Green Drive last year. Melton said Milam & Company will be paid to correct the issue on a time and equipment basis, and he estimated the price tag to be $25,000 or less.
The city council last week also approved a lease agreement with the Downtown Redevelopment Authority for the Trussville Ecumenical Assistive Ministry to lease the building at 110 N. Chalkville Road for storage on a month to month basis. That building will eventually be taken down for the future widening of North Chalkville Road for a dedicated right turn lane.
The city council also approved a professional services agreement with Hatch Mott MacDonald. The agreement states hourly rates that will be charged for any work it is engaged to do for the city. The engineering company has most of the drainage data for Chalkville Road and downtown Trussville.
The city council also approved of installing street lights on Bethune Parkway, one near U.S. Highway 11 and another near Caldwell Drive. Alabama Power will install the lights. They should be up in a couple weeks.
The city has hired Precision Tree Service for $10,000 to remove the trees along Highland Avenue for the future rebuilding of the drainage ditch and road.
In other news, the city council approved of loaning the Downtown Redevelopment Authority $60,000. That money is to cover the authority’s operating expenses for the next several months, possibly the remainder of 2014.
Contact Gary Lloyd at news@trussvilletribune.com and follow him on Twitter @GaryALloyd.