The Madison County School District Board approved in a recent meeting to move forward with a traffic circulation study for the MS 463 and Stribling Road intersection in preparation for the new Mannsdale Sixth Grade School, which they were previously unaware of its requirement and will delay the school.
The new school is requiring intersection and road improvements to accommodate new traffic movements. This consists of a number of changes, including a traffic light, turn lanes, and a new access road. Back in March, the Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT) reviewed an initial traffic impact study of the intersecting roadways. In a recent letter to Madison County Board of Supervisors, MDOT Executive Director Brad White said it was noted through the study that improved interconnectivity between existing and proposed school sites for parent pick up and drop off would be required to ensure efficiency on the roads.
“This improvement to the site circulation plan will help keep congestion of mainline traffic flow to a minimum,” White wrote.
The school district will be required to submit their proposed circulation plan before the permits for construction of the roads can be issued. This new traffic circulation study will help gather further information to create the circulation plan and to determine potential placement for an additional access road in the intersection leading to the new school. Assistant Superintendent Richard Burge told the Madison County Board in its Oct. 4 meeting that the letter from MDOT sent on Sept. 16 was the first the school district had heard about the required circulation study, although they had been in contact with MDOT since before Christmas.
This hasn’t been the only delay in the process of building the school. While construction bids were sent out in July, the bid that was received was well over budget, Burge said. The bid was rejected and the school district will now be accepting new bids about mid-November. Prior to the construction bids, the school district must get quotes for the traffic circulation study. MDOT will be sending the school district the specifics of what needs to be addressed in the study and then the district will send it out to get quotes.
“Right now we are in the process of getting two quotes for the traffic circulation plan, and it is our understanding that shouldn’t take too long,” Burge said.
The study is expected to take 11 weeks to complete, the school district’s Director of Communications Gene Wright said. Until its completion and next steps are specified, the school building project is on hold. This delay will cause a delay in the school opening to students. Burge said the original date for the school to open was May 2023. With this study, the expected date is now October or November of 2023.
“We will probably move students in that building in January of 2024,” Burge said. “We try to move them at the end of the semester or in the summer.”
