Jackson Jambalaya

Third world nation at work.

If these goobers were backed into a corner they couldn't find their butt with both hands. Make that four hands for Stokes.

And you thought Lakeland was already gridlocked at quitting time.

The detour could potentially be a short term boost for the Fondren economy but, alas, there is nowhere to park.

well by reading the comments for a year now, one would think this is not a problem because nobody works in jackson. furtuermore if you do get stuck in traffic you are at risk to be shot.

Just today I was driving in west Jackson and smelled a strong odor of a gas leak. At first I thought - I should call the gas company and report this. But then I thought - No. It's Jackson. This leak is probably several years old.

Just the price you pay for living in the hip, authentic, vibrant community we call NoDoJax.

Engineers designed the repair but the repair requires engineering design. Ok got it.

not withstanding, 6:11, but a gas leak would fall on the shoulders of ATMOS.......but alas, that is just a minor detail, and how dare I state the obvious

So....what's the solution?

Engineer was probably IMS who's plans probably say 'fix and replace waterline'
No details or other actual design. But their minimum campaign contribution is $10,000

"This repair cannot be made in-house."

Yeah, we sort of figured that. Jackson can't even fill a pot hole or cut grass. What makes you think they can do ANYTHING this "complex"?

Cambodia has better roads...

4:48 I vehemently disagree with you regarding Stokes. His arse, and head for that matter, is large enough to be found with Google Earth, no hands required.

6:46 , too far gone for a " save Jackson " solution but still time to save your self if you move quickly.

If ever there was a valid reason for an emergency procurement. But of course in this case it looks like the city is taking its time. Insane.

7:53, that would only contribute to the problem. Solutions are preferred, opposed to turning tail and running to Fauxville.

Will they re-write this RFP until only Socrates is eligible to submit a bid, as they just did for the crap-hauling RFP?

Preferred but not effective. Prove otherwise.

Corruption is color blind 8:52 PM. Anything to get Soc the contract.

6:11 You should have done us a favor and lit a match...

Hey hire Rudy Warnock to come up with a plan to replace a busted water pipe. Hey, he'll do a 2 million dollar study and come back in 4 years and do another 3 million dollar study on how to dig up a busted water pipe in the middle of Woodrow Wilson Ave. The guy does need a job.

Dang, how long does it take to fix a leaking pipe. It has been leaking for months. Only in Stokesville.

This problem is over three months old. Had it been addressed when first water was rushing over the concrete road, no doubt it would have been repaired by now and probably a helluva' lot less tax money spent.......total incompetence.

Calling the guy in Tishomingo. Bubba somebody. You some smart sure nuff SOBs. When u can explain the difference between the Great State of Mississippi and Jackson, let me know.

Calling the guy in Tishomingo. Bubba somebody. You some smart sure nuff SOBs. When u can explain the difference between the Great State of Mississippi and Jackson, let me know.

All water running loose in Jackson eventually makes its way into the Pearl. What's the big deal?

I can't wait until the detour signs direct everyone down Riverside Drive. That's going to be an auto repair shop dream detour. A smart mechanic would be there passing out business cards. It will be quite the economic boost!

Jackson should fix the water leak and then let the state fix the road.

Why should the State be responsible for Jackson's problems? The State already does enough for the City by housing so many jobs there. Are you ok with the State fixing roads in other cities? Or is it just your precious Jackson that is deserving of State funds? It was the Jackson idiots that brought this mess on, they should be responsible for fixing it.

@9:41 I don't think being the capital is very beneficial to Jackson. For example, the state doesn't pay property on the many buildings it owns in town - even though they require services just like everyone else. Most states acknowledge this issue and contribute toward the capital city's bottom line. Mississippi doesn't. Perhaps Jackson wouldn't be such a disaster if they'd had a little more money the past fifty ... ah, who am I kidding? It would still be a fiasco.

People live in Madison or Rankin counties, drive in to UMC and then drive out. Their money is spent outside of Jackson. No property taxes are paid into Jackson. Jackson has the expense. Only fair that the State pick up some of the tab. If not, Jackson should just not fix certain roads that serve parts of state government. The state will eventually fix them.

Just try to fix the leak in the next year or so. Don't worry about fixing the road. People will not be able to tell the difference in that part of the roads in Jackson and any of the other streets.
When pot holes get big enough for fire trucks and buses to get stuck in it is a little to late to throw a little gravel in them.

10 and 10:03, are you kidding me? You really believe that being the capital city is more burdensome than beneficial? If so, I would ask you to start a petition to have the capital moved....and take that little clipboard down to the mayor's office and see what they tell you to do with said clipboard. Delusional doesn't begin to describe you two.

First, there was no reason to close the north lane in the first place. The same water is running over both lanes.

Second, a 36" water pipe is a standard off-the-shelf size. I don't know what's "custom" about it, unless it's made of a material no longer commonly used. Even so, it's common to do such repairs.

Third, concerning emergency procurement, that is not really relevant to the design. That applies to the purchase of materials or hiring of a construction contractor. Since the city has not started either, EP procedures are not yet relevant. Once they finish designing, then they could implement the procedure to get to work faster. Standard procurement requires a minimum 2-week advertisement plus 15 days to bid opening, and then there will be time between bid opening and award/start of construction. So EP could save a month or so, once they get to the procurement stage. But first they have to start the process.

11:21 - It's been broken for months; what have they been doing this whole time?

Love all the folks that open their pie-holes to spout out s**t while not knowing a damn thing about what they speak.

Not one to defend Jackson leadership and its competence but this one is somewhat defensible. To the idiot that says a 36" pipe is standard off the shelf, go back to your engineering school and study a little harder. First off this is a steel pipe over 50 years old. Pipe sizes haven't remained standard for these decades and steel waterpipe buried in Mississippi's soils deteriote over time. Pipe fittings that would fit this pipe are anything but off the shelf items. What a similar pipe (although older) developed the leak on Riverside last year, it took a special milling of the replacement part - thus the months it took to finish the repair.

First, you have to uncover the pipe to determine the cause, size and extent of the problem. Next uncover again to determine the requirements for the replacement parts. Understanding that repairs need to be made without shutting off the water its not just a simple matter of digging out the old pipe and putting in a new one - unless no other solution can be found - so that a complete purging of the entire downtown system can be avoided.

If this leak had occurred 100 feet to the south, nobody would be bitching. It just so happens that it occurred under a major roadway thus causing much inconvenience for everyone including the city water folks who have to do all this preliminary work and the engineers that have to design the solution.

Just wondering - where were all the Madison folks who are always hating on Jackson and its infrastructure last month while their shit was flowing into the Big Black from their sewer leak. Yes, it was out in the country where nobody saw it every day, but it poured their crap into the waterway for weeks. As we learned on Forrest Gump - shit happens. Sometimes it just isn't as easy to correct as some idiots think it should be.

4:33 -
You make it seem like it is a real arduous task for a city's public works department to dig up a pipe and measure it.

You also make it seem like there is no way the city could have come up with a temporary fix to the problem while the custom pipe was being crafted.

You also compare the months-long flooding of a major thoroughfare in the heart of the state's largest city to a leak of some partially treated sewage that ran off into a river and was fixed two days after it was detected.

8:08 - and where did you get your engineering and/or construction management degree? It is somewhat arduous to dig up a pipe and measure it while it is spewing water. But I think 4:33 mentioned a few other parts of the required process (locating the exact point of the leak and the extent, etc.)

What would be your 'temporary' fix? Its easy to bitch when you don't know what you are talking about. There is no 'temporary fix' to a 36" main water line.

And I read the comment about the sewer pipe rupture slightly differently than you. Seemed to me that it was just pointing out that infrastructure issues arise in other areas but some folks only want to talk about Jackson's. (And, by the way, untreated sewage into a major river actually would cause more damage than treated water that runs back into a river. Yes it was under a major roadway, but the overall potential damage is similar. Next time, also, check your calendar about your 'two day' calculation.

When a water system is put in any city there should be piping and valves placed for such problems as this. They should be able to isolate the problem where it could be drained and repaired without all of these problems.
The problem with Jackson is they have hired their buddies to work at the water dept instead of hiring someone who has experience. There has been no preventive maintenance done. People do not even work the valves therefore making most of the valves useless.
Most of the problems we see now in Jackson is the results of the ice storm we had a few years ago. The people working for the water dept thought they were doing something smart by raising the water pressure to fill the water lines after the pumps were down. They forgot to turn the pressure back down and the increased pressure ruptured and weakened the water lines.

Who You Gonna Call......?

R...U...D...Y

4:11 - why don't you go dig up the city officials that put in the water system for Jackson some 50 to 75 years ago and tell them what all they did wrong when they built it!

There are piping and valves in the city, but that doesn't do what you say it should do. If you cut off the water to a line to replace it, that would cut off water to everything before and after the leak. Unless those valves that you want are installed every twenty or thirty feet - or I will eliminate the sarcasm - every few hundred feet - the cutting off of the water would cause the rest of the system downstream from your valves would eliminate the water pressure and therefore contaminate the system requiring it to be purged.

The WW line is one serving several distribution lines throughout downtown. You don't just shut it off like you suggest while the repairs are done. Go back to flipping your burgers and leave the heavy lifting to folks that understand hydrodynamics. Or at least understand city water systems.

12:46; In this whole scenario, can you name TWO people who understand city water systems? What they understand is nepotism, coffee breaks, the five o'clock whistle, pot luck lunches, typing up an RFP, sliding documents under a window without making eye contact, and parking passes. Oh.....and PERS.

12:46, you can start by looking in the Municipal Court of Madison the City.

3:31 - close but no cigar. Even he wasnt around when these pipes were put in the ground. Granted, he didn't do a damn thing to take care of them, but 4:11 was bitching about the folks who first installed these pipes and his opinion of their incompetence.

But - I'll agree with you on a good place to look for a lot of the problems we have with Jackson's infrastructure.

1:46 - there are actually a couple of folks that work for Jackson's PW Dept that do know about water systems. Problem is, they work for idiots above them that don't know their arse from the holes in the ground formed by these broken pipes.

About the only thing the people working for the Jackson water dept. know is how to replace the water meter with a straight pipe and how to steal. The elected officials of Jackson put a value on this. Many city employees have gotten a job with these qualifications.