The Madison County Board of Supervisors, the Hinds County Board of Supervisors, the city of Jackson, the city of Ridgeland and the Madison County Economic Development Authority plan to work together to improve West County Line Road.
The boards of supervisors, the city of Ridgeland, the city of Jackson and the Madison County Economic Development Authority plan to sign an intergovernmental cooperation agreement and be part of a regional partnership dedicated to improving West County Line Road, said Ridgeland Mayor Gene McGee.
The West County Line Road corridor includes parts of the city of Jackson, Hinds County, the city of Ridgeland and Madison County.
West County Line Road is anchored to the east by its intersection with Interstate-55, in proximity to Tougaloo College, and terminates on the west at U.S. Highway 49.
Along the corridor from the college, West County Line Road is a narrow, two-lane collector road that provides access to the Amazon Web Services new campus-style Hyper Data Center that is under construction.
Madison County will take the lead in preparing an application for federal grants to widen the entire West County Line Road corridor from two to four lanes with a multi-use path from Tougaloo College to U.S. 49, McGee said.
No funds have been set aside for the project, he said.
The project design, funding, the relocation of utilities and property acquisition are among steps that await in order for it to move ahead, he said.
The widening of West County Line will be beneficial to the area, McGee said.
“It will improve access and safety and reduce congestion,” he said, “and provide for a new development area in Hinds and Madison counties and in Jackson and Ridgeland.”
In 2021, construction on the project to join one end of West County Line Road with the other end of West County Line was completed.
For years, West County Line Road terminated at U.S. 51, just past the shopping center where Target is located, and resumed northwest of the railroad tracks. To reach that part of the road, drivers had to travel a zig-zag route that took them from West County Line Road east of the tracks, onto U.S. 51 for a short stretch and then onto Tougaloo Village Road, which would eventually connect them with West County Line Road on the west side of the tracks.
The extension of West County Line Road offers a more straightforward route.
First launched 22 years ago, the project might be considered a test of endurance.
“It’s taken a lot of patience and a lot of persistence,” said Hibbett Neel, an engineer, president and CEO of Neel-Schaffer, then engineer of record for the project that has included the relocation of 6,300 feet of Canadian National Railroad tracks, the addition of three overpasses and the closure of three at-grade rail crossings.
The new stretch of West County Line Road connects with a section of road that was designed and then built from 1999 through 2009. Lacking sufficient funds to complete the project, the city put the project on hold.
In 2015, the city of Jackson received a $16.5 million TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) Grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation to help fund two projects — the reconstruction of a two-mile stretch of State Street and the completion of the West County Line Road project.
A two-lane curb and gutter connection (about one-half mile), known as Richmond Grove Road, was made between the relocated section of West County Line Road and existing frontage road at the Mid-South Auto Auction facility. Utilities were constructed along the realigned portion of West County Line Road, Richmond Grove Road and Rand/Guice Street. Existing utilities were relocated as required.
A section of White Oak Creek was realigned and improved. A new traffic signal is operational at the West County Line Road intersection with the Tougaloo College entrance. Sidewalks, landscaping and street lighting were included.
Robert Walker, Neel-Schaffer’s regional manager for Mississippi, expected the project to make access to Tougaloo College easier..
A Tougaloo College Master Plan, written in 2019 by the Central Mississippi Planning and Development District, shows a mix of campus expansion, large retail, large and small offices, hotel and residential development. So far, none of that has been built.
The project brought improvements to safety after railroading crossings at Richmond Grove Road, Tougaloo Village Road and Brown Street were closed.
