Spring Street Culvert Repair, Transportation Plan on Council Agenda

A culvert repair and Dacula’s five-year transportation plan will be the focus of Thursday night's Dacula City Council meeting.

The Spring Street culvert is currently serviced by a 32-inch pipe that is failing. Should the pipe fail, it would pose a threat to the road and the lake. The city engineer has recommended increasing the pipe to 42 inches.

On Sept. 1, the council will decide whether to award a $26,500 contract to OHMSHIV Construction to complete the repairs.

In order to complete the work, a 12-foot open cut will be made on Spring Street to remove the old pipe and install the new, larger pipe. Only one lane of Spring Street will be closed at a time. The city has obtained three temporary construction easements necessary to complete the work should council authorize the project.

Council will also consider adopting a five-year transportation plan to outline in what order repairs to the 84 city maintained streets will be made. Each of the streets has been graded on a scale of A to F based on the length of the road and severity of damage. The grades will be used to prioritize the repairs. All repairs will be funded using proceeds from the city’s special purpose local option sales tax (SPLOST). Based on current estimates, the city has approximately $1.632 million in 2005 SPLOST proceeds and has allocated $2.184 million in 2009 SPLOST proceeds.

The goal of the five-year transportation plan is to address the worst streets first and then proceed to the streets that are in less dire need of repairs.

Also on Thursday, local artist and pastor Matthew Mitchell will present the city with a rendition of the 1837 Dacula United Methodist Church Building.

Council meets at , 442 Harbins Road. The meeting begins at 7 p.m.