NAHUNTA — County commissioners approved a curb and gutter option for the Britt Still Road road project during Thursday’s monthly meeting.
The decision followed Tuesday night’s (July 1) work session appearance and explanation by Ben Pierce, Director of Transportation at GWES LLC., of a curb and gutter appeal vs. a regular roadway design.
The $525,000 cost for the project will come from the current SPLOST (Special Local Option Sales Tax), according to County Manager Joey Cason Pierce provided pros and cons between curb and gutter and regular roadway with drainage ditches running alongside during the Tuesday work session. The cost includes the roadway meeting the driveways.
“We have been working on some alternatives to the roadway design between the CSX rail line and U.S. 301 along Bitt Still Road,” said Pierce. “This portion is one of the most dense residential areas that we have along the entirety of the project, from Caney Bay Road to US 301.”
Over the past couple of months, GWES LLC has looked at two different road alternatives, roadway design and typical section alternatives, according to Pierce.
“In the first portion of your packet, which is our recommendation, is the curb and gutter section,” said Pierce. “It starts at the railroad tracks and continues all the way to US 301, as well as a cost estimate.
“The second alternative we’ve developed is a standard roadside ditch alternative that includes driveways, driveway culverts, road shoulders, both graded and paved.”
Pierce then referenced highlights of advantages and drawbacks of each.
“We believe it’s going to be a little bit less costly on the construction end of curb and gutter because the grading isn’t going to be as extensive,” he said. “For a regular road and this one is fairly narrow, there’s a lot trees, some high ground compared to the roadway with a standard roadside ditch section. There’s going to be a lot of back slope grading.
“You’re (commission) going to have some additional acquisition outline, some acquisition limits. We’ll need about 45 feet for curb and gutter and upwards of 60 feet with regular roadside.”
Pierce anticipates lower long term drainage maintenance with curb and gutter.
One disadvantage is the length of time of form up the curb and gutter, especially for driveways. Another is no shoulder pull off area and a final one is having to mill mill off the existing asphalt to replace it.
Roadside advantages include resurfacing with overlay and smoother access into the property. The disadvantage is higher long term maintenance costs.
“Curb and gutter requires less overall impact to the area out there,” said Pierce. “We can really confine it down, reduce the amount of acquisition that we need to go through and really limit how much we’re cutting down on that south side.”
According to Pierce, the cutting is from higher elevations (three to four feet) along the road in certain spots.
“We can move a typical high section a little bit easier and reduce the overall construction costs and long term maintenance,” he said. “It’s a lot easier to maintain curb and gutter than it is roadside ditches.”
Pierce explained there is not as much of an issue on the north side of the road as there is on the south side of the road.
“We don’t want to create a situation where the road and the curve is up higher than the than the properties,” said Pierce. “We have that concern on the south side more so than for the north side. We want to have the yards drain to the roadway.”
Commissioner Randy Davison asked Pierce if the $70,000 difference between the prices included right-of-way acquisition.
“It does not,” replied Pierce. “That’s just your construction cost.”
