12/15/2009 2:16:00 PM South Road smoothed over Paving work mostly finished
Ryan Williams/WGCN
City of Williams road crews began paving South Road Dec. 4. Paving work continued through Dec. 6 until snowfall delayed completion of an approximately half mile segment.
WILLIAMS - South Road has steadily deteriorated over the years but with the help of an anonymous donor, Sunday drives will be a lot less bumpy in the future.
Paving work began the morning of Dec. 4 and continued through Dec. 6. Crews moved quickly to get the work done before snow began falling Dec. 7.
Williams Mayor John Moore said the project was able to move forward with funding provided by an anonymous donor through the Cactus Family Trust and support from Frisco Peaks Asphalt.
"We were approached by a gentleman who said he wanted to provide the material to do South Road because of the condition it was in," Moore said. "City staff went to work on it immediately and within a few days or a week's time they had everything organized and put together to purchase the asphalt. It took everybody working. It took the city, it took the people that donated the material, and it took the Morales at the asphalt plant all getting together. And then the people who laid the asphalt down. It was a good effort on a lot of people's part."
Moore said that an approximately half mile of road has yet to be completed. Once the weather breaks, the city will finish paving work, likely sometime in the spring.
Williams Interim City Manager Joe Duffy said the last maintenance the city was able to complete on South Road was chip sealing at least 10 years ago. In the time since, funding has been unavailable to do anything more than pot-hole patching and crack sealing
Duffy went on to say the city spent $75,000 on lay down equipment, fabric, tack oil and city labor.
"The value of the donation was at a minimum $175,000 and if we had contracted the job out it probably would have been in excess of $400,000. So the city of Williams feels we got a $400,000 plus project for about $75,000," said Duffy.
Moore said South Road improvements have been on the city of Williams' wish list for quite some time.
"We've always wanted to get it done but we just don't have the funds," he said. "When this came about it was kind of a godsend that the individual donated a considerable amount of money to get it done."
Reader Comments
Posted: Friday, December 18, 2009
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the pave job is a much needed improvement to the south road. I only have one question. Is the city of Williams planning on paying out another lawsuit when someone has a accident? if you havn't been out there there is a section of road that has only been paved on the south bound lane leaving a the north bound lane approximatley 4 inches lower which if a vehicle is to hit this just right not only can but will cause a vehicle to loose control.My may concern is there are no signs stating the roadway is uneven. To me this would be a major liablity.
