STARKVILLE — The woods west of Old West Point Road have been cleared and the surveyors” flags have been laid as construction began this month on the Pat Station Road extension project.
When complete, the two-lane, 3/4-mile-long thoroughfare will connect Old West Point Road at Pat Station Road in the east to North Montgomery Street at Garrard Road in the west. It also will feature an eight-foot-wide multi-use path on the north side of the roadway, along with standard curbs and gutters.
The city may expand the road to four lanes in the future with a median and boulevard-type layout, but those plans are still theoretical, said City Engineer Edward Kemp.
“If in the future we need more capacity for that roadway, we have room to put another two-lane in there,” Kemp said.
The road is being constructed to improve accessibility for automobiles, pedestrians and emergency vehicles on the north side of town.
Construction began around the first week of August and is scheduled to be complete by March 10, 2011.
Columbus-based Ellis Construction contracted with the city to build the Pat Station Road extension at a cost of $977,381, said project engineering consultant Clyde Pritchard, of Pritchard Engineering Inc.
The project is being funded out of the $6 million in bonds approved by the Starkville Board of Aldermen in 2008 and 2009 for infrastructure improvements around the city.
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