OLIVE BRANCH, Miss — The city of Olive Branch is moving forward with its 5-year plan to invest potentially more than $20 million into upgrading the city’s infrastructure.
The most significant part of that plan is repaving the city’s roads, which Mayor Ken Adams says will cost just over $10 million.
During their last meeting on October 4, the city’s Board of Alderman selected the companies that will handle the overlay and patching (Lehman-Roberts Co.) as well as the striping for the streets (Riverside Traffic Systems Inc.).
Mayor Adams said they will start with the city’s most heavily-trafficked roads during the 2022-23 fiscal year.
“I have one street that's a quarter of a mile long and to rehab that street and to resurface that street, it's over $750,000," the mayor says. "So it doesn't take long to eat up even $10.8 million when you have costs that high in order to preserve our roadways."
But Mayor Adams said only about 20% (roughly $1.5 million) of the $10.8 million project will come from the city’s general fund. The rest will come from a general obligation bond ($5 million) and the sales tax of online purchases ($4.4 million).
"It has to be done. It's kind of one of these pay me now, pay me later (situations)," he says. "We've got to do it because another harsh winter will deteriorate the roads even more and we've got to bring the roadways up to standard.”
Mayor Adams said the first roads the city will work on include: Church Road, Pleasant Hill Road, Hacks Cross Road, Craft-Goodman Road and Craft Road.
The mayor said that weather permitting, work could begin on the roads as early as November.