Rankin County awards roughly $1.63 million contract for Old Highway 49 overlay; multiple road projects advance

The Rankin County Board of Supervisors awarded a low bid for the Old Highway 49 overlay and moved several road projects forward at its March 2 meeting.

County staff presented a certified bid tab and recommended awarding the Old Highway 49 overlay to the low bidder, AJ Construction Inc. The bid amount in the meeting materials appeared as a garbled figure in the transcript (1,626,67041); staff said the low bid was under the engineer’s estimate. The board approved the award. Staff described the project as an LPA (local public agency) project with an approximate 70/30 funding split, with the county matching roughly 30% and a 10% city contribution noted in discussion.

Tim Parker, presenting other agenda items, secured authority to advertise clearing and grubbing for the Florence B Parkway project between Clear Road and Highway 049 and obtained approval to advertise the SAP 6120M overlay project covering five local roads (Florence B Road, Star Brandon Road, Lucky Road, Northshore Parkway and Midway Road). The board also authorized advertising for an Erlich Road bridge replacement (ERB project funded by MDOT) and activated a Transportation Alternatives Program project to create a shared‑use path at Pisgah High School.

Staff projected construction procurement and start windows: award has taken place and the county expects to move to construction procurement and a contractor within several weeks to months, with some projects estimated to advertise and reach contractor selection in about 60 days.

Because the transcript captured a malformed numeric string for the Old Highway 49 low bid, the reported dollar figure in the minutes was not fully legible in the recording; staff and official bid documents should be consulted for the precise award amount.