(Photo from MDOT on Facebook)
- Here’s a look at a few of the largest Mississippi Department of Transportation projects currently underway.
Across Mississippi, construction crews are shoveling, grading, paving and rolling to make state-maintained roadways safer and more pleasant to ride on.
It is no secret, especially for those who follow the Magnolia State budget process, that maintaining state roads is not for the tight-fisted bean counter. Some projects deserve the title of megaproject, as they require wheelbarrows of funding and many years to complete.
With the legislative budget impasse yet to be resolved and Governor Tate Reeves giving no indication as to when a special session will be called, officials with the Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT) said their projects will continue.
“These projects have been awarded and are underway / not in jeopardy,” a MDOT spokesperson said in a statement to Magnolia Tribune.
Currently, MDOT State Route 15 project in Tippah and Union counties is estimated at a total $255 million when completed.
The Tippah County portion of the project will construct 10.4 miles of new four-lane highway alignment of State Route 15 from Union County to Ripley and a State Route 2 connector in Blue Mountain, according to MDOT.
The $195 million price tag for this portion includes grading, building bridges, and placing drainage structures.
The contractor, Jackson’s W.G. Yates & Sons, is currently working on clearing and grading the sites for the interchanges at State Route 4, Cotton Gin Road, and County Road. The contractor has cleared approximately 390 of the 820 total acres on the project.
When completed in the summer of 2028, MDOT said the project will alleviate congestion, reduce drive time, and create a safer four-lane route bypassing Blue Mountain and Ripley.
In neighboring Union County, a $58.7 million project is underway to build six miles of new parallel lanes of State Route 15 to complete the four-lane connection from Pontotoc to New Albany. That is set to be completed in the spring of 2027.
The contractor, Talbot Brothers Contracting of Nesbit, has swapped traffic to a section of new lanes to work on bridges in Phase 2 of the project and finish applying asphalt on all remaining treated subgrade. Talbot has begun removing driveways that are no longer needed and is working to install shoulder gravel where the asphalt has been placed on the north section of the project, according to an MDOT spokesperson. Crews are currently also working on paved ditching for erosion control and building box extensions to widen the original highway alignment.
In addition, road crews are moving in Washington County as the U.S. 82 Greenville Bypass comes along. Phase 1 started in March 2022, providing the construction of nine miles of four-lane road from State Route 1 to Leland. The second phase provides cement stabilization and paving for about seven miles of the newly constructed bypass.
The project has at least two lifts of asphalt, and currently crews are placing gravel and installing cable barrier. MDOT said asphalt operations will continue as long as the weather permits.
“Crews are making significant progress on this massive construction project that promises to enhance safety and alleviate traffic throughout the region,” said Chairman of the Mississippi Transportation Commission and Central Transportation Commissioner Willie Simmons, adding that the project will “enhance safety by taking vehicles carrying chemicals and other hazardous products from our communities along U.S. 82.”
The remainder of the project is on track to be completed in the fall of 2025. The $216 million project was awarded to Eutaw Construction of Madison.
In southern Mississippi, a $155 million project to widen parts of Interstate 10 in Harrison and Hancock counties is underway. The project is expected to be completed sometime in 2027.
MDOT reports work crews continue to make headway on widening the well-traveled interstate from four to six lanes from Diamondhead to County Farm Road in Harrison and Hancock counties. The scope of work also includes technological upgrades and the construction of a multi-use path as well as a noise barrier wall near the Diamondhead exit, MDOT said.
Work continues mainly “on the westbound side, and on the eastbound side, traffic has been shifted to the outer lanes to allow space for construction in the existing median,” according to MDOT.
“Progress has been made to widen three bridges along the route, with work nearly complete on the Vidalia Road Bridge,” MDOT noted. “Near the Diamondhead exit, crews are driving piling for the noise barrier wall and performing earthwork and drainage work for the multi-use path.”
Huey P. Stockstill, LLC of Picayune is the project’s general contractor.
Daniel Tyson
