Tuesday, city officials, including Mayor Veronica Smith-Creer, director of public works Robert Edmonds and council member Willie McGhee, held a public meeting alongside Cody Stringer of Al Franks Engineering and Medical Center of South Arkansas CEO Scott Street, to assuage resident’s concerns related to work on the ongoing Fifth Street widening project.
According to a March 2 News-Times report, Diversified Construction and Design was awarded the project with an $850,000 bid.
The project includes the addition of a northbound turn lane from College onto Fifth; street widening; new curbs and gutters; the addition of sidewalks to run the length of Fifth between the North West and North College; lighting; and replacement of the retaining wall on the north side of Fifth at the intersection of North West Avenue.
Smith-Creer led the meeting by introducing each person present and immediately addressing one concern expressed by Fifth Street residents.
“I know one of things we definitely want to make clear with our residents, especially those who live on Fifth Street, is that we’re not acquiring anyone’s property,” Smith-Creer said.
Edmonds elaborated further, explaining the flags planted in yards on Fifth Street that alarmed some residents.
“That has been a concern that we’ve had over the weekend and this is not true. The new construction that’s going on is in an existing roadway that the city’s had for a long time. If there are flags in your yard, the different-colored flags, those are just marking the existing utilities…That’s probably the biggest concern we’ve had,” Edmonds said.
McGhee and Edmonds then discussed possibilities of further notifying residents about city construction in the future.
“I think we can do a better job on communicating when we have construction projects in neighborhoods so they do know what’s going on, whether putting it on Facebook or putting notification signs up, or even having someone going door-to-door in that area,” McGhee said.
“I think door-to-door outreach might be more effective, because this has been on Facebook Live a few times and has been talked about for probably close to a year. Maybe a door-to-door mail hanger or mail-out [would be better],” Edmonds said.
Smith-Creer elaborated on efforts the city made to get out information about the project.
“I think [part] of the confusion is that people see those little stakes and automatically think, you’re surveying my land to take some of it. We did go live on Facebook to try to share information and even tried, through the Public Works Department, (t0) share that information more because we have had people call. But that’s why we decided to have this meeting, because we have had people concerned about the project and when it should be finished,” Smith-Creer said.
Smith-Creer then asked Edmonds to give an overview of work that has been completed on the project and estimates on when it might be completed.
“I think some of the curbs and turning lanes are for the most part complete, and there’s curbs and gutters and sidewalks about halfway through. They’re cutting dirt right now from the hospital down towards North West Avenue. They’re making really good time in a bad time of year to be doing construction,” Edmonds said.
Edmonds said the projected has a projected completion time of mid-summer.
Street said the hospital has made previously-discussed adjustments to assuage any conflict they might have with the construction.
“We’re excited about the end result… We have tried to steer some of our traffic to the hospital off North West Avenue onto Lester [Street], and from Lester to the hospital… We haven’t had any issues,” Street said.
Street also spoke about benefits the hospital will receive from the project.
“The access from North West Avenue through Fifth Street to the hospital, which is our ambulance entrance to the facility and the ER, is an area that will be much improved… We might continue to use Lester to some degree for some traffic, but I think ambulances will go back to using that Fifth Street entrance,” Street said.
McGhee responded by pointing out the high volume of traffic that Fifth Street receives.
“I don’t think people realize that there is a lot of traffic on that street. You have people coming from North West Avenue, people coming from the school, or College [Avenue],” McGhee said.
Street said MCSA is currently in discussions to remove a fence surrounding a parking lot adjacent to Lester Street to give greater access to the facility from that direction.
Street also addressed complains the hospital has received regarding flight paths of EMS helicopters.
“Sometimes the [helicopters] can make a lot of noise, depending on the wind, and we have had some individuals along Fifth Street that have called, concerned about the flight path of timing of the helicopter. It might wake you up, and we do apologize for that. But I always say, if you do hear that helicopter, it is probably saving a life,” Street said.
Smith-Creer asked Edmonds to to describe the next steps in the Fifth Street widening project.
“I think they’re just continuing to move west. It’s going to be a bit time consuming with the work on the retaining wall on North West Avenue… If anyone has any questions about their piece of property they can call the Public Works office and myself or [Stringer] can come out with a set of plans and stand in your yard and show you what those wooden stakes mean,” Edmonds said.
The Public Works office can be reached at (870) 863-4244.
News-Times staff writer Tia Lyons contributed to this story.