Fremont town board moves ahead with road paving projects
By Joey Pitchford
Published in News on January 22, 2018 5:50 AM
The Fremont Board of Aldermen approved the paving of three blocks of Sycamore Street at its meeting Tuesday, addressing what the town considered the area of road most in need of repair.
The board voted unanimously to award a $52,588 contract to Barnhill Contracting Company, in Pikeville, to pave the 400, 500 and 600 blocks of Sycamore Street. A commonly-traveled street in Fremont, Sycamore Street has developed several problematic spots, especially in the three blocks designated for paving. Potholes, general road wear and even a deep furrow in the middle of the road -- which town public works director Tim Howell said has gotten deep enough to hold water after a storm -- have contributed to making the road difficult to traverse, especially at night.
The board selected the area from among several in the town in need of refurbishing.
Alderwoman Annie Lewis had advocated for focusing on Sycamore Street due to its traffic -- heavier than in other parts of town with similar wear -- and the extent of the damage to the road.
The town will pay for the project with its powell bill funds, which currently total more than $160,000.
Town administrator Barbara Aycock advised the board not to do too much with its powell bill funds at a time, as there is no telling what could come up.
"I'd suggest you leave at least $100,000 in there, to deal with any other potholes that may come up because of snow and ice," she said. "Do this now, and then when we get more funds in October, we can do something else."
Mayor Darron Flowers said that the town has been steadily working through getting problem streets paved over.
"We said that we were going to do two streets a year, and we've done pretty well with that so far," he said.