County Contributing More for Road Aid

RISON - County Judge Jimmy Cummings informed the Cleveland County Quorum Court Monday night that the county will have to chip in more than expected to complete a state aid project to pave portions of two county roads in the New Edinburg area.Cummings said the state originally projected it would cost $447,00 to pave 1.75 miles of county roads but the latest projections now project that to cost about $472,000. Since the county is responsible for paying for a portion of the project, Cummings said the county’s match has risen from $40,000 to $52,000.Plans are to pave about 1 mile of Marks Cemetery Road off the Hwy. 189 intersection, and about three-quarters of a mile of Shady Grove Road east of New Edinburg.Cummings noted that these are preliminary figures without having actual bids submitted for the project. Should those bids come in even higher than expected, he said they would reduce the scope of the project and that would probably result in a smaller portion of Shady Grove Road being resurfaced.One other factor the county will be fighting is interest in bidding on the project. While $472,000 may seem like a big project for the county, Cummings said most contractors are pursuing much larger projects. He told the quorum court that he expects to see only a limited number of contractors bid on the project.Cummings said he consulted with engineers from the Arkansas Department of Transportation on which portions of the two county roads to pave. He said the soundness of the existing road bed played a major role in which portions will be paved.The judge explained that the county receives state aid money each year to resurface portions of county roads. Since there usually is not enough money there for a significant project, he said many counties save up two years of the aid money to complete a larger project. Cummings noted that the state requires counties to spend the aid money within two years of receiving it.Tourism PromotionAfter hearing a presentation from Britt Talent…