Gadsden to expand in-house paving crew; North Sixth Street slated for first work, pavilion at Cherry Street Park to be replaced

Mayor Craig Ford said Gadsden has developed an in-house paving crew to increase the pace of street resurfacing and that the city used a contractor-produced map of every street to prioritize work.

"They gave it back to us in data, red, yellow, green. All the red streets are ones that are in dire need of paving," Ford said, describing the assessment tool the city used. He said the in-house team will allow the city "to pave twice as many roads as we've been paving in the past."

Ford identified North Sixth Street, near Cherry Street Park, as the first road the city will pave. He noted the street carries school bus routes, postal service and emergency access and said it "needs to be paved, and we're gonna pave it."

Separately, Ford said the current pavilion at Cherry Street Park—built during the Roosevelt era and now "a structural hazard"—will be taken down and replaced with a new pavilion. He said the existing structure "has walls on it. It needs to come down" and that a new pavilion will be built for public use.

Ford said the city will continue to contract for some paving while expanding in-house work, calling the combined approach "a double bang for a buck."