Extension granted for bridge at Big Black
Published 11:31 am Tuesday, November 8, 2011
The builder of new bridges across the Big Black River on Fisher Ferry Road will have extra time and money to complete the spans, thanks to an extension OK’d Monday by Warren County.
Supervisors agreed to give Vicksburg-based Fordice Construction 20 additional working days to finish the bridges after the company cited delays due to the historic flooding on the Mississippi River last spring. Traffic control signs used when U.S. 61 South was closed — leaving the old Fisher Ferry bridges as the lone road in and out of Warren County from the south — have added $6,966 to the company’s $1,599,000 construction contract, according to documents approved by the board after County Engineer John McKee recommended the changes.
Also, the documents said, soil tests dictated that support pilings longer than originally planned be driven underground, which created more delays.
Completion of new twin bridges at the site was already delayed until after Jan. 1. An extra 20 days should translate into about a month of real time, engineers said. Through Oct. 30, the company has used 127 of the 150 working days in the contract and labor is 76 percent complete, according to the most recent progress report supplied to engineers.
A new bridge on Redbone Road at Paces Bayou wrapped up in October. Final closing documents are expected to show Laurel-based Magco Inc. exceeded a 90-day time frame spelled out in its $541,845.62 contract by about a week, said Brian Robbins of ABMB Engineers Inc.
The new bridges are two of three financed with state highway and bridge maintenance money planned in Warren County this year. The late rate on the Redbone job would be $300 a day, based on the overall cost of work in the Mississippi State Specifications for State Aid Road and Bridge Construction’s penalty scale. Extreme temperatures last winter and summer have been blamed for holding up each job.
No start date has been announced for a new bridge at Bazinsky Road at Durden Creek. In October, Fordice won a $444,410.76 contract to replace an old span at the site, about a quarter-mile north of Wisconsin Avenue.
On the agenda
In their meeting Monday, members of the Warren County Board of Supervisors:
• Shot down a request from Shirley Waring to be reimbursed for travel expenses associated with her service on the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area Partnership board.
The board hung a 3-2 vote on travel pay not being requirement when Waring was named to represent Warren, Yazoo and Sharkey counties on the 15-member panel. She is also a member of the Vicksburg Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Waring argued her travel costs involve about 2,500 miles and a $565 per diem goes to the panel’s matching funds. The heritage area created when President Barack Obama signed public lands management legislation in 2009.
District 3 Supervisor Charles Selmon lobbied for Waring’s request, saying it would benefit the county to promote tourism. Selmon appointed Waring to the VCVB advisory board in 2009.
• Approved changing the name of Yorozu Way at Ceres Research and Industrial Interplex to West Ceres Boulevard.
The access road at the industrial park off Interstate 20 had been named after the Yorozu auto parts supply plant, which closed in 2008. In August, Laclede Chain Manufacturing Company purchased the building and opened its plant this month.
• Approved engineering services invoices for county engineer John McKee totaling $45,459.71 and legal services invoices for board attorney Randy Sherard totaling $6,307.50.
• Approved Princess Jackson as a deputy clerk in Warren County Justice Court.
• Approved $23,994.36 submitted by ABMB Engineers, the county’s engineering firm, for work to clear drainage bayous inside Vicksburg, pending receipt of funds from the Mississippi Development Authority.
• Approved paying $12,671.04 to ABMB Engineers Inc. for the E.W. Haining Bridge replacement. The bill is an engineering invoice; construction payments to builder Key LLC ended in October. Payment is pending receipt of funds from MDA.