Yandell Road will be receiving some attention after Madison County received $2,432,333 to widen the road, which has been a priority for the county due to its growth.
Madison County has received the Federal Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) Grant Funds from the Central Mississippi Planning and Development District (CMPDD) for the road project and will match the funds locally with $608,083. Madison County Engineer Tim Bryan said the project will construct an additional westbound lane from Madison Crossing Elementary School back to the west to tie into the existing three lane section of Yandell Road near Westfalen Drive.
“This portion of Yandell Road experiences a high level of traffic congestion, especially during the morning peak travel times, due to an increase in residential development along Yandell Road mixed with school traffic,” CMPDD Senior Transportation Planner Lesley Callender said. “Adding the additional lane will aid in reducing travel delays along this portion of Yandell Road.”
The county submitted the project to MPO who rated this project along with the others received by the following criteria: Whether or not the project provided more than the minimum required local matching funds; what percentage of the total funds available did the project request; whether or not the project is ready to go to construction; and what are the existing travel time delays in the project area.
“Projects are selected to receive federal grant money through CMPDD based on the score the project received during the application review process,” Callender said. “Each application is graded and evaluated based on the type of project proposed. The scoring criteria for each project type (bridge repair, safety, congestion mitigation or pavement management) varies slightly. Projects rating the highest in each category were selected for grant funding. The Yandell Road project was evaluated based on (the above criteria).”
CMPDD has project management guidelines for selected projects that outline the maximum amount of time a project has to complete each phase of the project: Project Activation, Environmental Clearance, Design, Right of Way Acquisition, Utility Relocation, and Construction. By CMPDD guidelines, The Yandell Road project has up to four years to start the construction phase.
“Once a project is selected for grant funding, CMPDD tracks the progress of the project from project activation to completion of construction,” Callender said. “Each phase of a project is assigned an allotted amount of time to be completed based on our project management guidelines to ensure funds are spent in a timely manner. CMPDD meets quarterly with those receiving grant funds to discuss the project’s progress and any pending project timeline deadlines.”
Bryan said the engineering for the project should start this fiscal year, and construction should begin in 2025. Phase 1 of Yandell Road’s transition to additional road capacity was the stretch of road from Highway 51 to Westfalen, and this latest project likely won’t be the last for the road.
“This is most likely Phase 2 of a multiphase project that expands as traffic increases due to growth in the area,” Bryan said. “This is the only phase programmed at this time though.”
