Lake City – Doing what municipalities are supposed to do
Lake City, FL (Posted April 18, 2011 06:30 am)
Tough economic times are not stopping Lake City from
giving some of its streets long overdue repairs and face
lifts. Public Works Director, Thomas Henry told the City
Council last night, "We want to keep our main veins
looking presentable. We want to make them look good in
our City."
Doing what municipalities are supposed to do, Lake City has been taking a hard look at its street inventory. The Street Survey Report was presented to the City Council. The report lists all the City streets by district, explains the condition of the streets in need of repair and the repairs needed. Streets are rated on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being in need of the most repair and 5 being ok. Of the hundreds of streets in the city, five are rated 5. A copy of the report is available for review in the City Clerk's Office.
Recent City refinancing has made available about 1.5 million dollars for street repair.
City Manager Wendell Johnson told the City Council, "The tax bond money is not going to go as far as I thought it was going to go."
Public Works Director, Thomas Henry gave a slide presentation showing the condition of some of the City Streets and their state of disrepair.
Mr. Henry explained that some of the repairs are so old no one knows who did them.
Some of the streets were just falling apart. Colburn
Ave. (Lake City Photo)
Some of the photos showed multiple patches in the asphalt, patches popping out, pot holes, cracking, cave-ins, and "roads coming apart due to big trucks."
Mr. Henry told the Council that heavy traffic areas need thicker asphalt.
City Manager Johnson told the Council that the City's main downtown artery, Marion Street, has signs that say "no heavy trucks." "I see them all the time," he said.
Mr. Henry explained that some folks are burying culvert pipe in front of their driveways.
The pipe is the wrong size and not being installed correctly.
Mr. Henry said, "We have to stop people from burying plastic pipe and screwing up the roads."
Councilwomen Moses brought up the problems involved when county streets are annexed into city. Many of the streets weren't up to par and the city is stuck with fixing them.
City Manager Johnson wants to have the project up and running in 60 to 90 days.
The City Council members are to come to the next Council meeting prepared with recommendations based on the Street Survey Report and their own personal observations.
CM Johnson concluded, "This will be the largest infrastructure project the city has ever done."
