SPRINGDALE -- City officials and engineers are preparing for repairs to a drainage structure under a street just off Thompson Street in central Springdale.
Aldermen gave the go-ahead at a City Council committee meeting July 20 to start the bidding process for structural repairs to the drainage system under Wilkinson Lane.
Web watch
To map Wilkinson Lane, go to google.com/maps and search for “Wilkinson Lane Springdale AR.”
Terry Carpenter, president of USI Consulting Engineers, said a wall has fallen over in the drainage structure under Wilkinson Lane. The wall could have been a structural support and could have been knocked over by water. However, there is still a column in the middle supporting the street, he said.
Storm water flows through the drainage system under Wilkinson Lane from the pond at Murphy Park before going under Thompson Street, said Sam Goade, director of the city's public works department. He didn't know the exact age of the drainage system.
"It's gotta be really old," he said.
Wilkinson Lane is one block south of Emma Avenue near Springdale High School.
City officials are keeping an eye on the street's condition, said Brad Baldwin, the city's director of engineering.
Goade said he hasn't seen any evidence of roadway failure on Wilkinson Lane, which would show through surface cracks and sagging. Officials would close the street if they saw those signs of failure, but he considers it safe to drive on, he said.
The cost of the repair isn't known because it is difficult to see inside the system until part of the street surface is removed, Carpenter said. He estimated the repair cost to be between $50,000 and $100,000.
The work will take about two months to complete and could start in mid- to late September at the earliest, Carpenter said. The project will be bid out in August.
Once work begins, part of the east side of the street will be blocked off, Carpenter said. People who need to access the parking lot on the north side of the street for Midtown Eclectic Mall and Eco Chic Resale will have to do so from Kansas Street.
Some of the digging will need to be done in part of the parking lot that belongs to Mattress City Furniture Co. on the south side of the street, Carpenter said.
Dan Ball owns Mattress City Furniture Co., and the work on Wilkinson will happen near the back entrance to his business.
Ball said trucks usually unload mattresses for his business on the side where the work will take place. He usually gets three trucks per week. He could have the trucks unloaded on the other side of the building, but the space on that side is tighter.
Customers usually park on a different side of the building than where the work will happen, Ball said.
After USI Consulting Engineers takes bids on the project, it will bring options to the City Council.
NW News on 07/28/2015