Lafayette County Seeks Bids for Yocona Ridge Storm Drain Lining Project

Storm drains installed when Yocona Ridge was developed around 2006 have reached the age at which concrete and corrugated metal pipes commonly crack, separate at joints, and allow groundwater to infiltrate the system, sapping the drainage capacity that keeps neighborhood streets and yards clear during Oxford's heavy rain events.

Lafayette County has now moved to fix it. The Board of Supervisors posted a sealed bid advertisement on April 1 for the Yocona Ridge Storm Drain Project, with proposals due by 10 a.m. on April 17 at the Chancery Building boardroom in Oxford. The work involves applying an internal lining to the existing storm drains, a trenchless rehabilitation method that bonds a resin sleeve to the pipe wall from the inside, sealing cracks and restoring hydraulic capacity without the full excavation that complete pipe replacement would require.

The neighborhood sits just off County Road 401 near the Twin Gates and Southpointe subdivisions, south of Oxford's city limits in Lafayette County. Its roughly two decades of buried drainage infrastructure place it squarely in the age bracket that has sent the county scrambling across multiple Oxford neighborhoods in recent years. Woodland Hills, Shelbi's Place, Taylor Greene and Twelve Oaks have all appeared on the county's drainage repair agenda, with the Board of Supervisors acknowledging as far back as 2022 that it was tallying repair costs and identifying ARPA-eligible projects across failing subdivision systems. The county issued bids for a Twelve Oaks storm drain project in November 2024; Yocona Ridge is now next on that list.

The county, not the homeowners association, is funding the project, meaning Lafayette County taxpayers cover the cost. No estimated price has been released ahead of the bid opening; the final figure will be set through the competitive sealed proposal process required under Mississippi procurement law. Contractors can obtain bid documents through the county's online procurement portal or at county offices and must submit one original proposal, four complete paper copies and one electronic PDF.

Because lining is a trenchless process, large-scale yard and street excavation is not expected, but the county has not yet released a projected construction schedule or completion window. That timeline will become clearer once a contractor is selected following the April 17 opening. What is already clear is that Yocona Ridge is not a one-off problem: the county is steadily working through a subdivision-by-subdivision campaign to address failing stormwater infrastructure that was built during Oxford's rapid growth and never systematically rehabilitated.