Editor’s Note: This is the first of a two-part series. The column will continue with State Highway information in July.

I want to take a moment this month to talk about our city streets.

First of all, I am extremely proud of our City Street Department, which falls under Public Works and is led by Bryan Marshall. When people think about city streets, they usually think about potholes. I believe it is important for me to share that, in my opinion, our city streets are in the best condition they have ever been — by far — and compare very favorably to other towns our size.

The reason I say that is simple. When a pothole is reported through TextMyGov (870-280-2266), called in to our office, or otherwise brought to our attention, our Street Department almost always repairs that pothole within 48 hours. Right now, it is actually difficult to drive around Harrison and find a pothole. Of course, you may think of a few, but some of those may not even be on city streets.

We also recently completed a project overlaying 11 miles of city streets. In the last 10 months alone, we have overlaid 18 miles of streets.  Council has just awarded a contract to update a little over 175,000 linear feet of street striping this summer.

People often ask how we determine which streets get overlaid. In the past, that decision would typically be made by the Street Department with input from the Mayor but we’ve changed to a more data-driven approach recently.  Public Works contracted with a company to complete a city-wide pavement condition assessment about four years ago.  Data from the assessment is now used to determine street paving priorities. 

I know there is always more work to do, but I truly believe our Street Department deserves a great deal of credit for the condition of our streets today. Their responsiveness, professionalism, and hard work are making a noticeable difference across our city every single day.

Jerry Jackson moved to the community in 1980 and was voted Mayor in 2018. He ran and won re-election in 2022. Email info@harrisonar.gov to contact the mayor’s office.