NATCHEZ, Miss. – Mayor Dan Gibson said he’s optimistic repairs will be completed soon for the city’s much-traveled Canal and Homochitto streets a year after they were poorly resurfaced.
City officials and the street contractor were at an impasse, quarreling over what corrections are needed – a dispute that prompted Natchez aldermen’s decision last May to begin the process to sue Theobald Construction Services.
However, Gibson said, “We are making good progress in working with Theobald, and we are very excited that we will see some improvements to the project coming soon – some very important repair items that were requested a while back that are going to be taken care of.”
The Vicksburg-based contractor in late 2024 put inferior asphalt on Canal and Homochitto streets that soon crumbled. Theobald had “refused to correct the unacceptable work” and pay the expenses, Gibson said last year as he discussed problems associated with the $1.1 million street-overlay project.
Deficiencies cited last year by engineers included inferior asphalt needing to be replaced and manholes too low needing to be raised.
Meeting last Thursday with Gibson, the Natchez Board of Aldermen agreed to continue paying the engineering firm hired last year to evaluate the street-paving flaws and oversee corrections. Volkert has been paid about $84,900 so far for its work on the Canal-Homochitto street project, said Natchez Community Development Director James Johnston.
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