Linden pavement

Linden’s in love with asphalt. It’s being laid down like a magic carpet on their town streets which otherwise had plenty of rocks and holes.

City Manger Lee Elliott agrees. “I love asphalt,” he texted last week as the paving work got underway by Francis Excavating Company of Texarkana.

Then, he elaborated with the comment, “This is the most excitement I’ve had just going around and seeing the asphalt going down. And I notice now how much the people use the neighborhood streets as sidewalks. They meet others. It’s good for us all.”

To re-pave the streets, the company begins by milling up the old surface and terracing the sides so as to prepare for proper water run-off. This week, the streets involved in being paved include Frazior which is a main collector and the feeder streets of Foster, Linwood, Oak, Taylor, Smithland, Hamilton and Park.

The paving is a second phase of the bond issue project which began with its first phase of paving of Kaufman Street as a main collector and streets such as School Lane and Banger Streets as feeder streets. Third and fourth phases will be completed in coming months.

The project idea is that collector and feeder streets tie the town roads to main arterial streets which are sometimes state highways. This means that the roads citizens use the most are the ones to be done in the four phases.

“After and during this time period, we will even have additional money from our regular budget to do more street work. This is so encouraging as well.

“We certainly hope that people will be pleased with the streets when they are done. We have all waited a very long time to have drivable streets, and it’s a relief to see the work going on. I’m still in shock. That’s why I can say I love asphalt.”

Background

Citizens on many occasions have spoken about the need for street rebuilding in Linden. It was, City Manager Lee Elliott explains, the number one concern communicated to him when he was hired in June, 2021, both as city administrator and also director of the Linden Economic Development Corporation.

City leaders put forth a plan. The choice was between an amount of bond issue to do some of the streets or a larger amount to do an entire project. Community leaders, present and former, spent 11 months preparing for a May 19, 2022, bond issue decision.

“The issue is, we are small rural community that has lost population for 40 years, and for that long we’ve only patched streets. No building or rebuilding. Now we’ve finally put a blueprint out there,” Elliott said.

“The city is coming together. We started by going through the process of how to approach this. We’ve heard from the engineer who has analyzed our streets. We’ve heard from the financial planner on how to proceed with the funding. We’ve heard from the community at our town hall meeting. The feedback has essentially been positive. The council was ready to decide.”

Again, the choice was between a smaller amount of bond issue to do some of the streets, and the larger amount of $6 million to do the entire project. So important was this project that the bond issue was unanimously voted by the town council May 19, 2022.

“When the vote came,” Elliott continued, “Councilman Frank Lanier made the motion for the complete build and larger funding. After a second, all hands went up. It’s was a dramatic moment. I think the council felt a sense of relief. It’s a rare story and not an easy decision. But it’s one we can be proud of. We can get there.”