Fayetteville fixes century-old storm drains at Lincoln & Washington; paving, waterline projects scheduled

Public Works Director Jack Williams told the Board of Mayor and Aldermen on Oct. 2 that crews uncovered failing, hand-laid rock storm drains while working on a water-line project at Lincoln Avenue and Washington Street and moved immediately to stabilize and repair the system.

"It kinda opened a can of worms that we had to fix," Williams said, describing hand-laid rock culverts that had hollowed and washed out. Crews sleeved two damaged inlets, added concrete access tops, and plan to place a six-inch binder course of asphalt as a durable base; Williams said the binder will allow a future permanent paving pass without wasting work. The repair is expected to allow traffic to reopen by the next afternoon.

Williams summarized other near-term pavement plans: Third Avenue is scheduled to be paved (Lincoln Pave expected to start Nov. 1) followed by Bellevue Avenue, with grinding and binder courses planned to prepare the street base. Striping in the downtown square will be upgraded using reflective thermoplastic; public-works crews will repaint smaller parking areas in-house.

On the Mulberry/Elk water-line project, Williams said crews will perform night saw-cutting and that the state will return flowable fill as a temporary surface; long-term paving for Mulberry has not been scheduled. He warned that semis routed down narrow streets are a recurring problem and said the city will add signage and coordinate with police to reduce through-truck traffic.

Finance staff later told the board the drainage repair out of Lincoln/Washington is estimated at $25,000–$30,000 and recommended using bond funds to cover the cost. Williams also said delivery of a replacement sanitation truck remains delayed; a rental truck funded by the board remains available through January.