Lazaro Aleman, ECB Publishing, Inc.
The City of Monticello has now received the state funding and hired an engineer to repave the portion of Pearl Street from Mulberry to Railroad streets.
The city was awarded $210,505 by the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) for the resurfacing project, and it recently contracted with Dewberry Engineering to provide the design and surveying services.
On Tuesday, Aug. 6, Dewberry engineer Josh Baxley presented the council with a detailed description of the services his organization proposed to provide for $21,000. Those services included surveying the right-of-way and existing improvements and alignments; evaluating the current roadway, drainage patterns and structures; and designing a new roadway, along with providing the required construction plans and bid documents.
Baxley said the project had a completion date of June 30, 2020. Per the agreement, city personnel will inspect the completed work, as state law prevents engineering firms from inspecting their own work.
The total length of the resurfacing project is 0.4 miles, Baxley said.
The FDOT released the $210,505 following the agreement that the city entered with the state agency in June. The FDOT is funding the project through its Small County Outreach Program (SCOP), which now has component that is applicable to municipalities. The Pearl Street resurfacing, along with the improvements on Dogwood Street and those scheduled for Cherry Street, are part of city officials' overall plan to enhance and bring economic vitality to the downtown district.
The Pearl Street resurfacing is also a recognition of the vitality that the area already gained with the Rancho Grande Mexican restaurant, which is in the process of remodeling a building across the street to relocate there eventually.