A’ville water project makes headway

AUTRYVILLE — Street development and maintenance for stormwater improvements are progressing for the town, according to updates Mayor Grayson Spell shared during last week’s town board meeting.

The project, simply listed on the agenda as the Autryville Stormwater Improvement, has been ongoing for the past two years, Spell highlighted, and stretches across a large portion of the town.

“The project is going to come down Gray Street from Benson Avenue to E Clinton Street, and then it’s going to go west on Clinton Street up to N Cooper Street,” Spell explained.

While a large task, Spell noted that a major part of the project, besides improving stormwater, would be to better consolidate the town stormwater systems.

“What we’re trying to do, as part of the project, is a DOT (Department of Transportation) right away,” he said. “DOT is helping to pay for a portion of it, that’s on the right of way, then the town is paying for the rest of it through a grant.

“With this project, we’re just trying to get a handle on all of the stormwater,” Spell stated. “Because, right now, around 75 percent of the stormwater for the entire town runs through that system.”

Spell also noted the project will aid in cutting the burden on doing maintenance on part of the system for a couple residents because it runs onto their property.

“That system currently runs across two pieces of private property,” Spell acknowledged. “And so, to us, it’s not fair that those property owners have to maintain a system when everybody else’s water is running through it. So the project will not only make the system better, but it’s going to get the system back on the town at the right way.”

As Spell divulged, funds for the project came in the form of a grant he said was upwards of $1 million, awarded from the state. The portion the town’s getting as support from DOT is in the hundreds of thousands.

“So we got an earmark from Sen. (Brent) Jackson, or I guess, it’s from the state Legislature,” Spell expressed. “Sen. Jackson’s office helped us with it, and that’s paying for about somewhere around a million dollars. Then, DOT is paying for about $400,000, so the entire project is about $1.5 million, so we’re excited about being able to do it.

“Hopefully, that’ll make a big difference, because there’s a lot of people down there, say, if you’re standing at the caution light, looking towards 24,” he added. “It’s kind of a big ball there at the bottom and that water there has kind of got to get back up over a little hill before it goes to the road, so we’re looking to improve all that.”

The project is still a ways from being done, but Spell did offer a time frame for its completion.

“We’re hoping to have it completed, I think, a year from now, so I’d say like maybe by the end of 2025, which would be great as this has been two years in the making,” Spell attested

Unrelated to that project, but keeping with stormwater improvements., the mayor spoke briefly on details for a pair of other stormwater projects the town is working on, currently being developed on W. Old Stage Road and W. Williams Street.

“The stormwater improvement project, we’re scheduled to go to bid next month, and we’ll hopefully have a contract by the beginning of next year,” he said. “The West Old Stage Road stormwater improvement, we’ve got the land cleared out there. We’ve had to tie all that in as one project to go ahead and let that be a holding place for our stormwater.

“Barnhill (Contracting Company) will continue working on that, and I’ll let you know how that goes,” Spell added. “As for West Williams Street stormwater improvements, I don’t have any update for you on that.”