[11/5/04]City officials plan to begin work after the beginning of the new year on improvements at four major intersections and repaving roads throughout the community.

James “Bubba” Rainer, head of the city’s public works division, said he hopes to begin advertising for those projects before the end of this month with work beginning by Jan. 1. About $500,000 has been set aside in the 2004-05 budget for street repaving, and improvements at the four intersections will be funded by federal money.

The city just wrapped up a $900,000 project to repair and repave 17 streets, including some of the worst thoroughfares. Those streets, as well as the ones to be repaired next year, were selected using a new computer system that ranks streets based on several factors, Rainer said.

Work on the intersections and street repaving will be contracted out, but city crews plan to begin work in December repairing Depot Street between Washington and Levee streets. Depot Street is concrete, and the city employs a full-time concrete crew to work on curbs, storm sewers and medians.

The list of streets that will be repaved under the new project includes five roads and several smaller roads in two residential neighborhoods. City officials are also looking at adding part of Sky Farm Avenue to the list if funding is available.

This year, after the major part of the repaving project was complete, the city added two other streets for repaving because the work did not cost as much as the original estimate.