Watching details results in savings on parish road projects

"The proof is in the numbers, and the numbers are impressive," said Washington Parish Council member Ken Wheat.

Wheat was talking about the bottom-line on the parish's 2011 road improvement program, which began with a materials budget of $31,500 per mile and a plan to rework 41.97 miles.

Now, with 33 of 51 roads and 25.75 out of 41.97 miles completed, council members are learning that there's a constant fine-tuning going on as the road work is being done.

"We talked with other places to see how they do things," explained Lavelle Stogner, parish transportation manager. "We're always looking to see what we can do better."

As a result, the material costs thus far are coming in an average of $1,406 per mile — which means enough money has been saved thus far to pay for another 1.15 miles at the budgeted rate.

"If people will just look at what they are getting for their money," Wheat said. "In 2009, the average materials cost per mile was $35,000 ... in 2010, it came down to $32,000 and now, it's just a little over $30,000 per mile.

"There's a lot more that goes into this than the public realizes. There's a lot of fine-tuning."

Wheat and his fellow council members got the project update from parish Public Works Director Leo Lucchesi and Stogner as part of a department head report at Monday's regular meeting of the parish council.

Earlier, council members had unanimously approved Resolution No. 11-526, which authorizes the issuance and delivery of not more than $500,000 of water revenue refinancing bonds by the Varnado Waterworks District.

Parish Finance Director Donna Alonzo explained that by refinancing the bonds, the district would obtain a lower interest rate and save more than $90,000 over the life of the binds.