Lake Harbour Drive construction continues to cause issues for motorist, but Ridgeland officials are addressing it.
On Monday, March 19, it took one Northsider two hours to drive from her work in Jackson to her home in Brandon, sitting in traffic for two hours from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
“I turned off of Pear Orchard onto Lake Harbour, and it took me over 50 minutes to get from Pear Orchard to Primos,” Dani Poe said. “I got home at 7 o’clock, and I left work at 5 o’clock trying to go straight home.”
However, officials are saying there have already been improvements since last Monday.
“There were a lot of issues going on that Monday with traffic signals and the traffic control plan,” Ridgeland Public Works Director Mike McCollum said. “That’s been fixed. The contractors are saying that hopefully, around April 6, they should open all the lanes back up, barring any weather.”
McCollum said the Dickerson and Bowen contract continues through August, but that work includes traffic signal upgrades, restriping, and other small improvements that should not continue to impede traffic.
“(Thursday, March 22), it was much better,” Poe said. “I made several stops after leaving work at 5 p.m., and I made it home within an hour.”
“We’re anticipating opening up traffic and travel lanes with more capacity on roadways on April 6,” McCollum said. “The reason these lanes have to be closed like this is because there is a two to two-and-a-half-inch asphalt lift that we don’t want people hitting. The second reason is, when you mill that area, it’s low. If it rains overnight, it holds water like a pond and can create hydroplanes or a dangerous situation like that.”
The entire project includes a mill, overlay, restriping, curb improvements and upgraded traffic signals on Spillway Road from Breaker’s Lane to Northpark Drive.
“It’s (a little more than) a mile of four lanes with a center turn lane,” McCollum said. “The road’s got heaves and stuff. We’re going to do some leveling. All the striping had actually worn off, and we did some restriping a year ago so people could see it. We’ve also got claims of potholes out there.”
The morning of March 6, reservoir residents driving over the Spillway sat in traffic for up to 45 minutes because work contractors from Dickerson and Bowen closed a lane to replace a curb.
“Initially, we had some problems,” McCollum said. “They were replacing curb, but they got that corrected so it’s not as bad.”
The city has been working with local and social media platforms to get the word out when there is going to be increased traffic.
“We’re going to try to make it as painless as possible, but some of it just can’t be helped. We’ll always maintain one lane of traffic open, so we’ll have two-way traffic all the time.”
The project is a two-part task, the other half of which is being completed by the Pearl River Valley Water Supply District (PRVWSD).
Work includes rebuilding and resurfacing the portion of the Spillway over the dam and digging out and refilling soft spots. Construction should begin sometime this year and should take between six and eight weeks.
