Madison County Supervisors have roads on their minds.
During a recent Madison Organization of Neighborhood Associations (MONA) meeting, all three supervisors representing the city of Madison spoke about what road plans are in the works.
Main projects throughout the county include Gluckstadt Road, Bozeman Road, Weisenberger Road and the Reunion interchange (phase two of the parkway).
“We got a lot of projects under design right now that are about to go under construction,” District 2 Supervisor Trey Baxter said. “We’re going to start widening Bozeman Road. In about 24 months, we’re going to break ground.”
The $16 million project will include widening Bozeman Road to four lanes with a divided median from Mississippi Highway 463 to Reserve Crossing.
“It’s a massive undertaking… We had to really put it into overdrive,” Baxter said.
The county is putting in a right-hand, south-bound turn lane on Stribling Road that will direct traffic onto Catlett.
In January, the county hired Prosperity Construction at the low bid amount of $305,636.02.
The project timeline should last 60 days but could be extended due to weather.
County Engineer Dan Gaillet said the 300-foot turn lane allows for about 25 feet per vehicle and about 12 cars to line up to turn during school carpool peak hours.
Stribling Road has an average daily traffic count of 8,200 vehicles, according to the Mississippi Department of Transportation Web site. Catlett Road has an average daily vehicle count of 7,300.
The county is also moving forward with a $2.7 million widening project on Gluckstadt Road.
“It has 17,000 cars a day and is projected to have $30,000 cars a day by 2020,” Baxter said. “It is over capacity…”
District 1 Supervisor Sheila Jones, board president, discussed the issues still arising with Weisenberger Road but said the county is working to rectify the issue.
“We still have a problem with Weisenberger. It floods a lot, about once a year. It’s in the flood plain, just like the rest of Gluckstadt. But the major reason it floods is because the box culvert under the railroad track is facing the wrong way. So, it’s pushing everything onto the road,” Jones said. “So, we’re working on plans to help on Wiesenberger.”
Plans include turning the culvert to redirect the water flow and raising the asphalt by three feet. The project will cost approximately $1.7 million.
Jones also said Tisdale Road should be completed within the next five months. The project includes foundation repairs and overlay for 1.4 miles from south of Hoy Road to U.S. Highway 51.
Supervisors also discussed the Reunion Parkway interchange.
“This is something the board’s been working on for a while now,” Baxter said. “It will go from Bozeman Road to Parkway East, and eventually there will be ramps connecting the bridge to the interstate.”
County supervisors have asked the state legislature for $8 million in funds this year to assist with the approximately $23 million project.
“It’s a county project that will be overseen by the Federal Highway Administration and the Mississippi Department of Transportation,” Baxter said. “This is a huge plus for Madison County, and we’re hoping for more economic development with the interchange. We’ve already had developers call asking about acquiring the land.”
District 3 Supervisor Gerald Steen said the county will be in charge of funding the entire project, besides the state-granted $8 million. Once the connection from Bozeman to Parkway East is complete, MDOT will implement the ramps to and from the bridge and interstate.
“It’s huge not only for moving traffic off 463, but it will also (create) economic development on both sides of the interstate,” Steen said. “The county will grow and grow well, so it’s huge for the county to get the interchange and get it moving.”
Supervisors also discussed their efforts to make the county government more transparent, the budget, and other small road and community improvement projects.
“When the new board took over two years ago, we set out to save the county some money and have reasonable transparency,” Baxter said. “I think the county struggled with that in the past.”
Since the current board took office, all county meetings, public records and meeting minutes have been posted permanently to the county’s Web site.
“Anything said or done is not hearsay anymore. It’s online for any resident, any time, 24 hours a day to pull up anywhere in the world… You can watch the meeting online or you can pull up the board minutes or any related documents at any point in time…”
The county also made efforts to cut costs, including the privatization of garbage pickup and cleaning crews.
“We privatized the trash department. That saved us about $700,000 a year. We also privatized something as simple as housecleaning. We saved $130,000 a year by privatizing,” Baxter said.
Steen broke down the county’s budget, explaining what portion of the $103 million goes where each year.
“We started off at about $83 or $84 million… $12 million is bond money, and $8 million is money that the county borrowed,” he said.
Administration takes up $19 million; courts $4.7 million; debt service $19 million; economic development $700,000; education $5 million; emergency management $500,000; fire districts $5.6 million; law enforcement $15 million; medical services $500,000; roads and streets $25 million; social services $150,000; tax assessor and collector $3 million.
Jones mentioned the sidewalks that will soon be built in Madison that will be part of the county sidewalk program.
The county applied for funding for both projects late last year. Both sidewalks will reach Strawberry Patch Park, located off Old Canton Road.
“There are two different projects… (One would run) along St. Augustine Road from the Sherbourne subdivision to Strawberry Patch Park,” Stan Wright with Neel-Schaffer engineers said. “The second project is along Old Canton Road on the west side, from Calumet Drive at the (Bruce Campbell) airport to Strawberry Patch Park.”
Wright said the sidewalks would help connect some of the nearby neighborhoods to the park.
“They would be multi-use trails, so they would allow for pedestrians and cyclists,” he said.
For funding, the county would need to apply for a federal grant of nearly $726,000. Both projects together will cost a total of $1,332,900, with the St. Augustine trail costing $794,000 and the Old Canton trail costing $538,900.
“We applied for grants for those… We’re trying to get sidewalks to parks and schools in the city of Madison and the city of Ridgeland,” Jones said. “Our job is to make you comfortable and get you where you need to be.”
One concerned citizen asked for an update on the stoplight at the intersection of Green Oak Lane and U.S. Highway 51.
The improvement project is in anticipation for the construction of Reunion Parkway, phase three, from Parkway East to Green Oak Lane.
In August last year, Jones said implementing the stoplight now will possibly help save the county some money on the Reunion project.
“It will certainly save the citizens out there some traffic control issues.”
Gaillet said the stoplight at the Green Oak and Highway 51 intersection will cost approximately $450,000.
The stoplight will be temporary, according to the engineer, because eventually a turn lane will be built on Highway 51 to help combat traffic at the intersection.
The current problem with the intersection is at peak morning and afternoon hours.
“(South) Highway 51’s getting stopped because people are trying to make that left turn (east) to get to Green Oak… There’s a lot of stop-and-go traffic, especially with people heading north coming home from work and school traffic and people trying to get out on (Highway) 51.”
Jones said the third phase of Reunion Parkway should break ground next year, and the county is hoping to have the traffic light up and working once the summer months arrive.
