Downtown Natchez street paving stalls; Forks to Freedom Corridor moves forward

With this being the second time this summer no bidders stepped forward specifying how much the streetwork would cost, the city officials are considering  alternatives. “We’re going to be looking at other strategies,” Natchez Mayor Dan Gibson said Tuesday.

The mayor and aldermen want to resurface Main, Franklin, Canal and Homochitto streets along with sections of intersecting streets. No street-paving company submitted proposals city officials sought by a June deadline or by another deadline set for last week.

After being told it’d be another year before contractors could finish projects elsewhere to get to Natchez, aldermen agreed in June to downsize the scope of the resurfacing work so some paving could be done this year. However, that also didn’t attract any bids by last Thursday’s deadline.

While the downtown street resurfacing project has been held up, city officials continue to move forward with planning how to use a $24.5 million federal grant awarded to Natchez in June to enhance an area stretching from Devereux Drive through downtown to the bluff overlooking the Mississippi River.

“It will be transformative for Natchez,” Gibson said of the project to improve pathways, landscapes, lighting, signage and other transit-related fixtures.

The money is from the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) program. It focuses largely on communities with “persistent poverty” or are “historically disadvantaged.”

The Board of Aldermen on Tuesday approved an agreement for the city to work with the Mississippi Department of Transportation in outlining steps for hiring engineers and architects to prepare the extensive, multifaceted plans needed for the project, which is expected to begin construction in 2027.

Some of the downtown streets that city officials have been wanting to resurface might get new pavements with this project, Gibson said.

This would be in addition to what the city began last year to repave other Natchez thoroughfares, such as Cemetery Road, Liberty Road, Melrose-Montebello Parkway, Auburn Avenue, Fatherland Road, Arlington Avenue and Jeff Davis Boulevard.