An emergency repair to a collapsing section of Christina Place in Pevely was expected to be completed by the end of this week, City Administrator Andy Hixson said Tuesday.
The Pevely Board of Aldermen voted unanimously Jan. 5 to pay Jokerst Paving of Festus $15,374 to repair the 27-by-20-foot section of Christina Place, a road off of Abbey Lane in the eastern part of Pevely. The work included cutting into the existing road to a depth of 10 inches, installing rebar and pouring concrete. The company submitted the lowest of two bids for the project.
Rob Ebmeier, Pevely’s Public Works director, said the repairs needed to be completed right away.
“It’s not totally collapsed, but it’s getting worse and worse,” he told city officials. “It’s something we need to fix pretty quickly. I think it’s washing out from underneath.”
Ebmeier said he recently received a call from the Dunklin R-5 School District transportation supervisor who said the section of road was a problem for a school bus.
Ebmeier said the Street Department budget contains money to cover the project, but he needed the board’s authorization to “move money around a little bit” to cover the cost of the patch repairs.
He said it was not practical to wait until the city could bid out the project.
“(Jokerst) makes its own asphalt,” he said. “If we wait for the next companies to bid, it will probably be in April when the asphalt plants open up. The only reason Jokerst can do it now is because they make their own asphalt.”