The current improvements underway at Rocky Branch Park in Sumrall are expected to kick into the next gear throughout the next several weeks, as town officials will enforce closures of the site east of Mississippi 42 for several days while work intensifies.
During that time, workers will conduct resurfacing projects on the park’s tennis and basketball courts, and much of the park’s equipment will be replaced. Mayor Joel Lofton said he is excited to be close to completion on the project, which complements the upcoming Downtown Sidewalk Improvement Project that will see sidewalk improvements along New York Avenue in downtown.
Bids for the work are expected to be opened and reviewed at the end of this month, at which point the Sumrall Board of Aldermen will select the best and lowest bid for the project.
“We hope to have (Rocky Branch Park) fully open for the public very soon,” the mayor said. “Along with the sidewalk project, there are bids for a downtown lighting project, and connected to that lighting project is a bid for the Rocky Branch Park lighting.
“So that’ll also open the last week of October, and certainly we want to be able to light all the amenities in the park so the folks can go out and enjoy it, especially as the days get shorter. We want folks to be able to go out there and enjoy the courts and the walking trail on into the evening, so hopefully that will be coming very quickly as well.”
Work at the park has been ongoing for the last several months, necessitated in most part because of deterioration experienced during the last few years. In late August, workers poured the first stretch of the park’s improved walking track and continued with foundation work at its pavilion.
“It had kind of fallen into a state of disrepair,” Lofton said in a previous story. “We did have a walking trail there that was largely a wooden pathway, and a number of years ago an individual noticed there were some safety issues related to the construction and the condition of the wood.
“It had been there in an outdoor environment for quite a few years, so in the last (administrative) term that walking track was removed. So this board felt it was a priority to re-establish that walking track.”
To that end, the track is being expanded to a full quarter-mile, concrete path. In addition, the pavilion – which has been at the park for several years now – is being almost quadrupled in size.
Other upgrades also will soon be added to Rocky Branch Park.
“(We’re) resurfacing the basketball courts, resurfacing the tennis courts, setting up some picnic areas with barbeque grills,” Lofton said. “There will be a couple other amenities (as well) that we’re not quite ready to share yet.
“But there’s a good bit going on there at the moment, where the residents and citizens of our community will have a good, safe place to enjoy the outdoors and participate in sports or exercise. Or they can just go and enjoy a picnic.”
While some portions of the work have been contracted out to local businesses, the majority of the work is being done in-house to save taxpayer funds.
“We’ve completed most of the major construction, although there are a couple of other improvements that are will be made in coming weeks,” Lofton said. “We’re nearing the end of the major work there.”
