Sidewalks Coming to Wax Road and Sullivan north of Hooper

Submitted by David Barrow
    On August 12, 2015, LA DOTD accepted bids on the City of Central Sidewalks Project. This project involves the installation of sidewalks on the south side of Wax Rd from Cloudland Ave to the existing sidewalk in front of Walmart. It includes a pedestrian sidewalk across Beaver Bayou by expanding the bridge on the south side. It also includes new sidewalks on the east side of Sullivan Rd from Jackson Place subdivision (Virgil Jackson Ave) to the existing sidewalk at Reed Ave (south of Jackson Park). This application was submitted during former Mayor Mac Watts' administration as part of LA DOTD's Transportation Enhancement Program. LA DOTD will reimburse the city 95% of the cost of the project. The low bidder was KCR Contractors LLC with a bid of $651,701.26. The estimated price was $555,219.28. The project is scheduled to start towards the end of the year.
    Former Mayor Watts had a vision of new sidewalks being installed from Central High School down Wax Rd to Sullivan Rd. and continuing up Sullivan Rd to the new school complex north of Gurney Rd. This project will bring to reality new sidewalks on Wax Rd from Central High to Sullivan Rd, and continuous sidewalks on Sullivan Rd from Hooper Rd to Jackson Place subdivision at Virgil Jackson Ave. Sidewalks will be installed on Sullivan Rd from Wax to Hooper as part of the road widening project in that stretch which is set for bids later this year, and when that is completed, there will be continuous sidewalks from Central High to the new school complex on Sullivan Rd north of Gurney.
    Former CAO David Barrow was the responsible person in charge of this project according to DOTD and made sure the project worked its way through DOTD and coordinated with the design firm and DOTD officials. It is unclear who will be the responsible person in charge now as this person must be a full time city employee who has completed the required training class provided by DOTD and cannot be a third-party contractor. Forte & Tablada is the design firm for the project.