Lake Harbour has September opening

RIDGELAND — Although some phases of the project have dragged out to nearly twice their contractal time, city officials expect the Lake Harbour extension across I-55 to open at the end of the summer.

The construction cost of the project is around $22 million. This includes the box culvert installed at the Canadian National Railway, the road extending west of Highway 51 and the bridge across I-55.

Public Works Director Mike McCollum said that their latest totals have the full project, including preliminary engineering, right-of-way acquisition and relocation to cost $30,768,657.42 as of their latest calculations.

The east to west project is expected to open to motorists in September and will provide a straight shot from the Ross Barnett Reservoir to the Highland Colony Parkway around the Renaissance Phase III and IV developments.

Mayor Gene F. McGee said that the project is "on schedule and financing is in place." He said that most recently crews were working on traffic signals at the west end of the roadway and surfacing was expected to be completed soon.

"We are excited for the continued progress and look forward to getting that roadway open," McGee said. "It is a big project but it is moving along like it should be."

To date, Phase B, which includes the roadway and bridge over the interstate, has cost just over $7.5 million with $1,552,423.14 in federal funding remaining for the project.

Much of the cost of the contract is an 80-20 split with federal funds overseen by the Mississippi Department of Transportation providing the bulk of funding.

At the June 2 city board meeting, McCollum gave alderman some updates that included a pay estimate on the box culvert installed to facilitate the roadway crossing the Canadian National Railroad.

The total cost of work completed as of May 27 for that phase was $4,163,353.54 and Hemphill construction had completed 84 percent of the work in nearly twice as long as initially expected. The culvert was installed last July.

McCollum said that this part, phase A, had run into complications but would not hinder the completion of the overall project.

"We expect to receive closeout documents for this phase of the project very soon," McCollum said.

At the meeting, the board approved $204,034.81 for work completed between November 22 and December 31 of last year. McCollum said it was drainage work and was not covered by federal funds.

McCollum said that the time overage for the project has led to $85,490 in deductions from payment to the contractor. The original contract completion date for this phase was was Sept. 19, 2019, putting Hemphill at 103 calendar days over schedule at a daily rate of $830 for every calendar day after the contract completion date.

Despite both phases being behind schedule, McCollum said that they fully expect the roadway to be open in September, which is ahead of the full time of the contract.