By By Adam Prestridge
It is said that April showers, bring May flowers, but in the City of Atmore’s case, with April’s showers comes flooding.
The city council’s approval of a $1,230,978.50 Pine Barren Watershed project at last Monday’s meeting could not have come at a better time following a morning of violent thunderstorms and torrential downpours that caused flooding throughout town. The floodwaters not only affected roads, but also seeped into the homes of several residents causing costly damage.
With its approval, Mayor Howard Shell said the chances of flooding such as that, which occurred last Monday, should be significantly decreased.
The Pine Barren Watershed project includes drainage areas beginning at Beck Street to Pine Street and over to Montgomery Avenue down to Briar Lake. According to Shell, crews will install a new bridge on Medical Park Drive by the Masonic Lodge and a new, wider bridge will be installed on McRae Street. The current drainage project intersects with a drainage project that was completed just over three years ago and runs behind Atmore Community Hospital and handles much of the water from the northeast portion of Atmore.
Engineer Euel Screws with the city’s engineering firm Goodwyn, Mills &Cawood, Inc. credited Shell for securing the funds necessary to make the drainage project a reality.
Screws said the project consists of an in-depth engineering analysis, evaluation of alternatives, environmental assessments, a supplemental Watershed Plan, inter-agency reviews and finally construction of the improvements. Shell added that the city has been working on engineering and grant approval for the project for nearly 10 years. Shell said that NRCS is providing 100 percent of the funding for the project.
Now that funds have been secured, Screws explained that Phase I of the project would consist of lowering the existing drainage channel from McRae Street, across Medical Park Drive and to Montgomery Avenue. The McRae Street bridge and the Medical Park culvert would then be replaced.
Public bids were received on April 9 and a total of 10 bids were submitted. S.A. Graham Company, Inc. submitted the lowest bid of $1,230,978.50 and was awarded the bid upon NRCS concurrence of the bid documents. Should S.A. Graham not execute the Notice of Award within 15 day, pursuant to the contract documents, a motion to withdraw the award of the contract to S.A. Graham will be made and the project would be awarded to the McDonald Construction, the second lowest bidder with a bid in the amount of $1,363,714 contingent upon NRCS concurrence of the bid documents. Both the first and second low bids were under the construction budget, Screws said.
According to Screws, the project is expected to begin in May and be completed by the end of August.
The City will issue public notices of the road closure dates, Screws said.