Paving project begins in the City of Petal

PETAL, Miss. (WDAM) - Residents of Petal will start to see more road improvements with the start of a $1.6 million new paving project.

Petal Mayor Tony Ducker said this plan has been in the works since last August and September and will start with Baker Street.

Although the project is finally at the start line, Ducker said the project cost has increased by about $50,000.

“The good news is that we are starting to come into a season where we have some resources,” said Ducker. “The downside is the expense of doing this is as much as I’ve ever seen it. So, we used to do a mile of road for about $100,000, we are bumping it up to around $150,000.”

Despite the jump in cost, Baker Street residents like Tim Wedgeworth said they are just grateful to have a newly paved road, considering it hasn’t been touched in over 20 years.

“I‘m on roads every day, and it was probably one of the top 3 roads that were torn up the worst,” said Wedgeworth. “I mean, we would have to doge from the start to the end of this road potholes. And, I’m not talking about little bitty ones, ones that would swallow the whole vehicle.”

According to Ducker, the project will include around 9 miles of paving, which will consist of about 33 roads in the city.

“So there’s a round 100 plus miles in the city, so it’s tough and we need to be a little more focused on how we do this and sometimes it’s a little more pretty when we pave on the top but we need to make sure what’s going on underneath the roads,” Ducker said.

Other roads in the project will be:

Mclnnis Street, Dixie Avenue Mitchell Street, McKinnon Street, North Railroad Street, Woodside Drive, Ford Drive, East Charles Street, East 4th Street, Elaine Drive, Little John Drive, Nottingham Drive, Manor Drive, Robinhood Drive, Sherwood Forrest, Morrow Street, Vardaman Drive, Hensarling Drive, Cooley Drive, Louise Drive, Norman Drive, Hickory Drive, Holly Drive, Fairchild Drive, Valley Drive, Stewart Drive, Hawkins Drive, County Park Circle, Van Slyke, Garden Lane, Ashland Drive, Kelly Rose Lane, Grays Crossing, Red Fern Trail, Yaupon Point and Chestnut Point.

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