Those traveling along Old Richton Road in Petal last week may have been inconvenienced a time or two as crews worked on paving a 1.4-mile stretch of road. But in the end it will be worth it.
Forrest County supervisors funded the project, which will end up costing more than $140,000. The project was requested by Supervisors Burkett Ross (District 3) and Charles Marshall (District 2), who both represent portions of the Petal area.
After paving a couple of roads for the City of Hattiesburg at Mayor Toby Barker’s request, Ross inquired about the possibility of paving a road for Petal also.
“The other supervisors agreed it was only fair,” Ross said.
The work is being paid for with taxpayer money out of the Road and Bridge fund, and was not part of the original county road plan.
“That was not altered in any way,” Ross said. “It was simply a decision of the board at the request of myself and Mr. Marshall.”
The road, which goes out into the county, serves as an alternative route to the city’s schools and has an extremely high traffic count on a daily basis.
“I felt like it didn’t have a lot of holes in it, but it was awful rough and I’ve had so many people ask if we couldn’t do something to help the city with Old Richton Road,” Ross said. “Anytime you can make things safer for the children, you certainly want to do that.”
Mayor Hal Marx concurred.
“Old Richton Road is a heavily-traveled road for people both inside and outside the city,” he said.
The project begins just over the hill from the Evelyn Gandy Parkway and proceeds for almost a mile and a half.
“People keep asking why we didn’t go all the way to the Gandy,” Ross said. “The Mississippi Department of Transportation is going to come in and make some corrections to that part of the road. You literally just come over that hump. They think it’s better if they refigure that and that’s the reason we didn’t go all the way to the Gandy.”
The work included putting a leveling course on the road before coming back and putting an overlay on it. According to Ross, that should ensure the road lasts a long long time.
Like most government entities, “they (the city of Petal) are always playing catch-up,” Ross said. “There’s never enough money and they need the help just like we do.”
Warren Paving, who has the bid for the county this year, started the work on Tuesday and finished by the end of last week. Striping will be done once the asphalt has cured.
“It cost a little more than we thought, but to get it in the shape it needs to be in it would have been foolish not to fix it like it needed while we were working on it,” Ross said.
Prior to beginning work on this project, work had been wrapping up on Pop Runnels Road in District 3.
“We will continue to do a little more paving this year, and hopefully will have some funds available for next year,” Ross said. “It’s kind of a balancing act all the time, trying to decide which road needs it the worst. Anytime you can serve the most people for the dollar, it’s worth it.
“I was thinking this morning that if I had every road in my district like this it wouldn’t be that exciting. But people are so excited to see this. I’ve received texts before 6 a.m. from people. Sometimes you like for people to be happy. Just think how many people this makes happy. And I’m happy they are pleased.”
