Monsoon arrives paysonroundup.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from paysonroundup.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Payson will get at least a little C.C. Cragin Reservoir water this year and the East Verde River will get a six-month reprieve before it dwindles toward running dry.
The news emerged last week from a meeting on how to save the reservoir by thinning the 64,000-acre watershed.
The dry winter left the 15,000-acre-foot reservoir just 29% full at the end of the spring runoff period, leading the Salt River Project to hold off pumping water out to deliver to Payson and release into the East Verde.
However, SRP started the pumps on May 1 and will continue moving water for about six weeks, perhaps enough to keep the East Verde from drying up before the onset of the monsoon in July. The National Weather Service predicts a hot, dry May and June, but perhaps a blessedly average monsoon this year. The fire season is already well underway, with evacuations already ordered in the face of at least two wildfires in the state.
Three monthsâ worth of road work begins May 3, with asphalt and drainage improvements along Caballero and Mescalaro Roads in the Mesa del Caballo subdivision north of Payson, off the Houston Mesa Road.
Gila County has contracted with Valor Specialties to rehabilitate Caballero and Mescalaro Roads by milling the existing asphalt and reconstructing the structural section of the roadway, along with minor drainage improvements included in the scope of work.
Following a pre-construction conference April 27, work should begin Monday, May 3, with locating and lowering utilities in the roadway.
They estimated the entire project to last 90 days, from start to finish.
Mesa del Caballo road work starts Monday paysonroundup.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from paysonroundup.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Those living in Mesa del Caballo will soon have a smoother road to take through their neighborhood.
At its April 6 meeting, the Gila County Board of Supervisors awarded a $436,646 bid to Valor Specialties, Inc., for a paving project in the community.
The project is a continuation of two previous projects to improve the roads in the community northeast of Payson, according to Steve Sanders, director of the countyâs public works department.
Work includes the removal of all of existing asphalt and base materials and replaces it on Mescalero Road and most of Caballero Road.
Caballero Road is the main entrance to Mesa del Caballo. The road reconstruction project will effectively improve Caballero and Mescalero roads, which are in poor condition.