Van Buren pushes forward on road projects

story by Marla Cantrell
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In a special meeting on Wednesday (Sept. 8), the Van Buren City Council approved a bid of $339,515 by Forsgren Construction for several overlay projects on roads across the city.

Forsgren won out over Wilson Brothers Construction, whose bid was approximately $20,000 higher.

The overlay project includes improvements to portions of Seventh, Eighth, 11th, 28th, and 40th Streets, as well as Bryan Road, Main Street, and North 13th.

The bids were submitted in segments, one for the three primary streets identified by the council earlier in the year, and the other five streets as separate add-ons.  Mayor Bob Freeman said he broke out the bids in case the total came in over $350,000 allotted for the capital improvements project.

“We’ve got a $2.6 million dollar projected cost on the widening of Rena Road,” Freeman said.  “We’re being very careful with our money. … We’re glad we were able to get all these projects in under our budget.”

The county has been instrumental in helping improve roads in the industrial park.

“The county and the city have been cooperatively working on 40th Street to get the drainage improved,” Freeman said. “It’s been overlaid from Industrial Park to Radio Tower. We’re still waiting on the bill on that, that we’re splitting with the county.”

The mayor looked ahead to next spring, when work should begin on Rudy Road North near Parkridge, and Dora Road.

Work is often slowed because preliminary work needs to be done before the overlay projects can begin. The most common problem is drainage. Freeman is working on grants for two drainage projects, one on Jordan Road, and another on Drennen Street.

He showed a picture of Jordan Street, a black trashcan floating in the road and rainwater coursing across yards.

“It looks more like the Jordan River than a Jordan Street,” Freeman said. “We’re asking for a grant of $50,000, but the actual cost will be around $200,000.”

The photo of Drennen Street showed a white car with water reaching its tail lights.

“This is the Drennen and 11th Street area,” Freeman said. ”We’re not going to get rid of the problem here, but we can minimize it. That’s the Drennen River. It’s the old part of town. Everything from the north comes that way, trying to get to the river and it just swells up.”