As Mayor Toby Barker said during an October 17 news conference on Martin Luther King Avenue, it’s not every day that the lieutenant governor of Mississippi shows up for an announcement regarding water and sewer projects.
However, this one warranted that appearance, as Barker – along with Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann and local officials – announced one of the largest such projects in the city’s history to date, to the tune of $4.076 million. As the city’s first project funded under the American Rescue Plan Act and the state’s Municipal and County Water Infrastructure Program to make it to construction, work will see major water and sewer line replacements in and around MLK Avenue.
“The city is growing under Toby’s leadership in a phenomenal way … everywhere you turn in Hattiesburg, it’s positive,” Hosemann said. “When we first (got the ARPA money), we thought it would be a great thing to match forward-thinking cities, to allow them to build that infrastructure.
“It’s all going under the ground, so after they get done digging up the streets and putting this in, nobody will hardly know this is there, but the people that will know it’s there are in every one of these houses. When they don’t have (water issues) – there are other towns in Mississippi right now where that is not the case.”
The project will entail sewer main replacements on parts of MLK Avenue, East 4th Street, May Avenue, Harrell Street, Townsend Street, Francis Street, Royal Street and Independence Street. Those streets will be repaved, and that work is expected to last for several decades.
The work also will include the replacement of water mains and individual water service lines on parts of MLK Avenue, Ruby Avenue, Charles Street, John Street and Cypress Avenue.
“(This will) upgrade these areas to properly-sized lines,” Barker said. “Right now, they’re one- to two-inch lines; we’re going to upgrade them to six-inch lines to provide better fire protection, more consistent water pressure and fewer occurrences of (discolored tap) water.”
The project will be paid for with $1.89 million of the city’s individual ARPA allotment and $1.89 million of its matching MCWI grant from the state, with the remaining amount coming from the City of Hattiesburg. That amount includes $340,000 in engineering costs to invest in water, sewer and stormwater projects.
“This means that Hattiesburg’s $12.8 million (in ARPA funds) turned into over $20 million, with this $4 million being the first,” Barker said. “To my knowledge, no other state in the country was that forward thinking when it came to leveraging ARPA dollars to promote local infrastructure investment.”
Work on the project has already begun and is expected to take between 16 and 18 months.
“Any water and sewer project is extremely messy, and particularly when you’re waiting for asphalt to be laid and new sewer trenches laid,” Barker said. “It takes a while to settle, so we ask for (residents’) patience.”
Nicholas Brown, who serves Ward 5 on Hattiesburg City Council, said he looks forward to seeing the city continue to make similar investments in infrastructure, in particular for the city’s employees and residents.
“Our citizens and our employees are the backbone of our city,” he said. “I want to just keep moving forward and making progress here in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.”
