12 benches to accent state welcome center landscaping detail

Published 12:02 pm Wednesday, July 28, 2010

A dozen benches and at least 200 cubic yards each of tree bark mulch and topsoil will accent and be the groundwork for eight different types of exotic shrubs to be planted during stimulus-funded landscaping at the Mississippi Welcome Center to start in September, according to specifications posted online Tuesday by the Mississippi Department of Transportation.

Six offers were taken by the agency to perform the work and came in under a $128,327.50 estimate:

• Mayrant & Associates LLC, based in Grenada, at $74,534

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• Southwest Design & Landscaping LLC, based in Summit, at $98,129.40

• J.M. Duncan Inc., based in Falkner, at $108,872.94

• Simmons Erosion Control, based in Lake, at $115,004.84

• Stewart Environmental Construction Inc., based in Tupelo, at $117,494

• Hemphill Construction Company, based in Vicksburg, at $118,234

Specifics also call for five additional crepe myrtle trees, two drake elm and a collection of nandina bushes and Indian hawthrorn shrubs. A contractor is expected to be named by Aug. 10.

The task involves replanting many of the same types of plants already in the ground at the tourist information center at Washington Street and Interstate 20. Contract specifics allow the contractor to perform work from Sept. 9 through March 31, 2011. MDOT officials have said the center’s parking lot and nearby elevated walkway to the river overlook should not be closed for the entire project, possibly reopening for a time just before Thanksgiving.

More extensive landscaping and parking lot reconstruction at two other rest stops, along U.S. 78 in Itawamba County and Interstate 55 in Panola County, were also put out to bid Tuesday. The former is estimated at $213,589, with J.M. Duncan Inc.’s $210,229 offer the lone bid to come under the estimate. Four bids taken for the latter came in more than a $556,000 state estimate.

Renovations at 11 of Mississippi’s 14 welcome center and rest areas have begun since mid-2009. Three along Interstates 55 and 59 expanded parking lots and are still closed to traffic until Labor Day at the earliest, MDOT officials have said. The agency lists $354.5 million in highway enhancements and other projects in Mississippi put under contract and funded last year by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.