Statesboro City Council during its July 15 meeting unanimously authorized a $1.36 million, single-bidder negotiated contract for Ellis Wood Contracting to replace the pavement, drainage structures and some sidewalk on Max Lockwood Drive and also build a new turn lane and driveway from Fair Road into the Honey Bowen Building parking lot.
The Honey Bowen Building is the Bulloch County Recreation and Parks headquarters and midtown community building, and Max Lockwood Drive is the short, one-way street that leads in front of the building from Fair Road to South Zetterower Avenue. As the council meeting revealed, officials had also given some consideration to making it a two-way street, but that isn't happening.
Originally, city staff proposed the Max Lockwood Drive project only as needed street resurfacing, and the original budget estimate had been $300,000.
"We've been trying to get Max Lockwood resurfaced for some time, but we have to do more than just resurface it. We had gotten a price of like $300,000, but that was just for asphalt," City Manager Charles W. Penny told the council members. "But in making improvements in that road we have some storm drain drainage work, all of those things that need to be done, some sidewalk work. One time we even talked about making that two-way, but we're not going to do that. It's still going to be one-way going in the direction that it is."
As a short ride through the intentionally low-speed street reveals, some irregularly shaped areas wider than potholes have eroded away. The speed bumps haven't, and the whole thing measured about 0.15 mile on a car's trip odometer.
"This work needs to be done," Penny had told the council. "If you've driven on Max Lockwood, it's not in good shape, and we'd like to recommend you approve so we can go ahead and get it scheduled."
"Is there any way we can make it two-way?" District 4 Councilmember John Riggs still asked.
City staff had looked into this, but Bulloch Recreation & Parks leadership asked that the street be left one-way, Penny answered.
"We want to abide by their recommendation, because you've got so much…," he said, not completing that sentence, but alluding to Max Lockwood Drive as a potential shortcut between two busy streets. "If it were two-way, it would be something."
Drainage and driveway
The memo to council, from city Public Works and Engineering Director Brad Deal, stated that the project will include the replacement of drainage infrastructure to address "drainage issues along the road which affect surrounding properties, including the Honey Bowen Building." In addition to reconstruction of the pavement, the project will include new curb and gutter and sidewalk, plus "traffic calming devices," striping for new parking spaces and "installation of a new deceleration lane and driveway into the Honey Bowen Building parking lot from Fair Road," the memo stated. It noted that the new entrance requires a Georgia Department of Transportation, or GDOT, encroachment permit.
Mayor Pro Tem Shari Barr, who conducted the July 15 meeting because Mayor Jonathan McCollar was away, asked if the plan really includes a new, separate entrance to the parking lot, or just a lane at Max Lockwood Drive.
"Part of this project is to build a new entrance off of Fair Road into the parking lot that's behind the Honey Bowen Building, which the Recreation Department is very excited about as well. …," Deal said. "Right now you kind of have to maneuver around the tennis courts and through the parking spots that are on Max Lockwood" (to get to the Honey Bowen parking lot).
Fits with Blue Mile?
Barr observed that all of this project would be in an area where the city is "looking at an awful lot of changes already happening, or hopefully are going to happen with the Blue Mile and all of that."
The Recreation Department has a major renovation of Memorial Park envisioned to mesh with the wider Creek on the Blue Mile project. Meanwhile, the Georgia DOT has plans for a roundabout where Fair Road, as part of Georgia Highway 67, intersects with the Blue Mile of South Main Street, which is part of U.S. Highways 301 and 25. The city also has plans for another phase of the Blue Mile streetscaping.
"So it is going to fit in with whatever else happens? Barr asked. "We're not going to do one thing and then have to tear it up and do something else?"
"Well, we didn't say that," Penny responded.
"That was all mentioned in consideration of the process," said Assistant City Manager Jason Boyles. "There could be some adjustments made in the future, but we'll need to take all that into consideration."
The memo acknowledged that "only one bid was received in response to the city's advertisement of the sealed bid," and stated that "Ellis Wood Contracting meets all the requirements of the bid package." The change from the originally proposed $300,000 resurfacing project to include total reconstruction of the pavement, the new driveway and "decel" lane and other features reportedly increased the design consultant's opinion of the projected cost to $1,274,288.
However, the Ellis Wood company's original bid was $1,520,870. "Staff negotiated with the only bidder to remove some items from the project scope to reduce the price," Deal's memo states. Sidewalk in areas "determined not to be critical" was one of the reductions.
The final price was $1,363,320. The funding source is Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales tax revenue from both the 2018 and 2023 referendums.
Council approved the contract 5-0 on a motion from District 1 Councilmember Tangie Johnson seconded by District 2 Councilmember Paulette Chavers. When serving as mayor pro tempore, Barr still votes as the District 5 member, so all five were voting.
