Board considers installing guardrails, postpones filling vacancy

By: Sharayah Sherrod - Texarkana Gazette -

Published: 09/16/2008

To install guardrails or not to install guardrails—that was the question at Monday night’s Texarkana, Ark., Board of Directors meeting.

Jeff Hill, Texarkana, Ark., Public Works director, presented photos showing Preston Street bridge where nearby residents want a guardrail installed, but engineers say the bridge was designed to not have one.

“We have a lot more areas that need guardrails a lot worse,” Hill said.

The bridge has a 12-foot dropoff, while Hill estimated that one other bridge needing guardrails may have a 6-foot dropoff.

Still, residents are concerned that someone may slide off the roadway.

“There is always the ‘what ifs’. Looking at the Preston Street bridge, it meets all the national requirements,” Hill said.

Hill estimated the cost of installing a guardrail at $2,000 to $6,000 if the city does it and $17,000 to $20,000 if the state does it, the difference being the used or new materials, respectively.

“This is all speculation until we get someone out there,” Hill said.

The photos also showed that drivers have been driving around the barricades, tearing up the sidewalk and sod on the side of the road.

In other business, Hill also reported on the cleanup from the high winds off Tropical Storm Ike and noted that 62 trees were cleared from rights of way as of 4 p.m. Monday.

“It could be months of cleaning up,” said Hill.

Mayor Horace Shipp expressed his thanks to the Public Works Department for its work during the storm. “People that were out answering the calls and running chainsaws in 50- to 60-mile per hour winds, thanks. Thanks to all the crews,” Shipp said.

Also, Joe Cervini asked the board to consider abandoning some dedicated, unimproved and unnamed street rights of way in the Southside Addition, but the board could not take action because there were not enough board members in attendance. It was the same story to amend an ordinance to adopt new state fire codes, as well as for an ordinance that would waive the competitive bidding process to allow the city manager to enter into a contract with Roberts-McNutt Waterproofing of North Little Rock to renovate the exterior of the Arkansas Municipal Auditorium Commission.

“The problem is that this project is going to have to be done in stages and they’re not going to have all the money to do it at one time and this is the only company that is flexible enough to deal with us in this process,” said Harold Boldt, Texarkana, Ark., city manager.

The board also discussed the levying of the 2008 tax rate, which Boldt said would not increase taxes, and Dwayne Hall presented information on a voter registration drive that he says will be held 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sept. 30 in the Save-A-Lot parking lot on East Street.

The board decided to not enter into executive session to discuss filling the vacancy on the board because of the low board member attendance. The vacancy was created when Patsy Cornelius resigned.

Board members Shirley Bradley and Londell Willams did not attend Monday’s meeting.