WM Public Works laying the ground for upcoming road work projects

WM Public Works laying the ground for upcoming road work projects

New GPS tracking system will help city keep tabs on Sanitation Department progress

news@theeveningtimes.com

Most of the report from the city engineer at the August meeting of the West Memphis Public Works showed steady progress on annual overlay and road projects, and recycling.

Commissioners were delighted with bids referred to them for decisions.

Bids for a tractor with an enclosed cab and air-conditioning outfitted for mowing came in thousands of dollars below budget. A needed six yard dump truck came in the five figure under budget. The annual street overlay contract showed savings from the plan as well. In all the three competitive bid purchases saved the city $28,000 against projected expenses.

Recycling weighed 13,000 pounds for the month, which has grown to become the expected monthly weigh-in. City residents packed one trailer full of electronic waste hauled for recycling. The recycle trailers stand in the south lot of city hall for drop off. Items acceptable to recycle included empty cans and foil trays; paper product like junk mail, office paper, magazines, phone books and catalogs, milk and juice containers, books, cereal and food boxes, cardboard and pizza boxes; plastics like jugs, bottles and rigid plastics are accepted too.

Some items are prohibited from the recycling center including old tires, scrap metal, wax products and aerosol cans, biohazards, liquid waste, food waste and wood scrap.

City Engineer Amanda Hicks briefed city council representatives about the progress on roadwork on the drawing board. Hino Road was expected to close for a short while beginning September 4th for the long awaited deck replacement.

The road is heavily used by trucking coming out of the manufacturing, and distribution centers around the Union Pacific Intermodal Facility. Reduced speeds and speed humps were set in place to extend the life of the bridge by reducing the dynamic load stress of faster moving tractor trailer traffic. Speed limits were expected to return to normal with the work completed. The bridge was set to get its first major overhaul since the rail yard opened twenty years ago.

The bridge shared the city limits line between Marion and West Memphis.

“We’ll notify businesses in the area of the closure and provide alternate routes,” said Hicks. “I have contacted the Arkansas highway department and Marion and there are no issues with moving forward.” The South Loop extension began its lengthy course of environmental reviews and the study was expected to last 18 months. That road would connect the east and west side industrial sites and provide a truck route around the southern edge of the city.

Bridge work on Redding and Lehr Streets were slated for the future.

“The Lehr bridge is in design and Redding bridge went out to bid, “ said Hicks.

Rubicon was conducting on site training for the sanitation department’s new monitoring program this week. All trucks were retrofitted with smart devices for tracking “bread crumb paths” of where trucks had been. The truck uses GPS location and motion sensors to document stops, route progress and efficiency.

Drivers also have an on board camera to document collection issues. The city opted for a free six month trial of the service aimed at improving efficiency and customer satisfaction.

By John Rech