Landscaping project to begin

GRAVETTE — Weather permitting, work was expected to begin Monday of this week on a beautification project at the intersection of Highways 59 and 72 near Centennial Park.

The project is financed through a grant from the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department and has been in the planning stage for many months. Amount of the grant is $9,158.14.

A pre-construction meeting was held last Wednesday with representatives from Rodden Landscaping, the firm which has the construction contract, and a representative from the AHTD. Allyson Ransom, the city’s grant writer; Tim DeWitt from the street department and Corey Reardon from the water department were also present, as was Kevin McClaflin of Morrison-Shipley, who oversaw the complex bidding and changeorder process.

The city will run water lines to two landscape beds for a drip water system. The beds will be planted with several native plant varieties including redbud and coneflower, Ransom said.

The original grant application included planting redbud trees along a length of the highwayat Atlanta Street and sowing wildflowers on the Highway 72 overpass embankments. After various change orders required by AHTD, the agency approved only stone-edged landscape beds near the west intersection of the highways and Second Avenue SW.