The Gila County Board of Supervisors received an update during their meeting last Tuesday on fast-tracked flood recovery efforts funded through the Natural Resources Conservation Service. The supervisors also awarded a construction administration contract for the Russell Gulch Landfill expansion, announced the award of a $109 million highway expansion project near Payson, and approved an agreement advancing sidewalk improvements in Strawberry.
Deputy Public Works Director Matt Rencher gave the supervisors a brief update on fast-moving flood recovery projects taking place under the Natural Resources Conservation Service’s Emergency Watershed Protection program.
These projects are happening under an accelerated schedule in order to complete them within the 220-day window that NRCS funding requires. That window started on March 16.
The projects include work at Copper Hills, Icehouse Canyon and Six Shooter Canyon. At Copper Hills, Rencher detailed that the county is working with the mines on drainage easements, and 90% of plans have been submitted to NRCS. The county is moving ahead with necessary archaeological, environmental and cultural clearances.
At Russell Gulch landfill, household debris will be removed by next week after delays resulting from gasoline spills. Finally, work on Hospital Drive is starting and is expected to be completed within a week.
The supervisors will discuss these projects further at a work session on May 26.
The supervisors also moved forward work at the Russell Gulch landfill, which involves urgent expansion to create more space at the rapidly filling landfill. The supervisors awarded a contract for construction administration on the project to SCS Engineers.
SCS Engineers are already the design engineers of record on the project and are familiar with the plans for construction, leading to their selection as construction administrators. The contract runs through the end of December and is in an amount not to exceed $250,000.
County Manager James Menlove announced that work on the expansion of SR 260 at Lion Springs, east of Payson, has been awarded to Ames Construction. This is a $109 million project involving widening four miles of highway to four lanes, adding one lane of travel in each direction to help eliminate the major weekend traffic bottlenecks that occur in the area.
The project will also add three wildlife crossings and a dedicated right-turn lane for eastbound SR 260 at Lions Springs Road and westbound SR 260 at Dealers Choice Road, as a result of public input received at the June 6, 2024 public meeting.
The work is slated to begin in June 2026 and to finish around the end of 2028.
The supervisors also approved an intergovernmental agreement with the Arizona Department of Transportation for sidewalk improvements on about 0.8 miles of Fossil Creek Road, from SR 87 to Rimwood Street. This work is being funded through a grant from ADOT. The agreement relates to scope of work and preliminary design, with a cost of approximately $280,000. ADOT will pick up most of that cost, with the county covering only about $18,000.
County Engineer Thomas Goodman explained that the rationale for building the sidewalk is that many people who reside in the area walk into the commercial part of Strawberry along Fossil Creek, where the road’s speed limit is 65 miles per hour.
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