Video: 5 Million Dollar Bond Issues To Repair Damaged Roads

COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI)—Driving through Columbus can be a bumpy ride, at times, leaving some residents wondering where their tax dollars are going.

Many Columbus drivers complain about rough roads.There are roads, sidewalks and bridges in need of repair.

But one councilman is hoping that will soon change. A large pothole, damaged wood, and scars of flooding are easy to find on a Columbus bridge.

Gavin says,”The bridge is located in the deer run subdivision right off highway 45. It’s an old wooden bridge that’s been there for quite some time.”

Ward 6 Columbus City Councilman Bill Gavin says the land around the bridge has also taken a beating from storms.

He considers the bridge safe, for now. However, Gavin believes this short bridge is a big priority in infrastructure repairs that are needed in the city.

Councilman Ward says, “It’s these people’s only ingress and egress from their property. In the event this bridge goes out we have no way of getting an ambulance there, police service there or people can’t get to their homes.”

Fixing the bridge sound easy enough but it will take money.

Right now, a bond has been issued for 5- million dollars.

Gavin says the money allows the city to have a road paving plan in place.

“What we do instead of going in an doing it all at one time and running up a lot of debt, we’re waiting till some of our debt with the city either comes off or we are restructuring that debt by refinancing”, says Gavin. “With the retail sales increase that will allow us to make this bond issue work without raising taxes on people.”

Councilman have approved 15 million dollars through bond issues.

It’s an amount Gavin says is not enough, and deciding which roadways to pave can get as bumpy as the actual roads.

Columbus Engineer Kevin Stafford says, “The councilmen and we work together in prioritizing a list the conditions of the roads. A lot of roads have utility issues whether it’s drainage water sewer electrical it just doesn’t matter, things that are along the road way, then also we look at the condition of the road. The volume of traffic how long has it been since it was last paved.”

Councilmen are expected to make a decision on which roads will be paved sometime in August.