Madison County’s Bozeman Road project took a step forward this week when the Board of Supervisors voted to advertise for bids on Phase I of the project in its March 4 meeting.
The supervisors have faced disagreements concerning the best way to move forward on the project with traffic problems continuing to worsen along Bozeman Road and the surrounding areas on both ends. The City of Gluckstadt’s Mayor Walter Morrison addressed the supervisors on behalf of the interest of Gluckstadt, asking that consideration be given to starting the Bozeman Road project on the northerly end of the road, rather than on the south end, which is considered Phase I and shovel ready.
“One thing goes without dispute and that is that the worst traffic within Madison County lies within the City of Gluckstadt,” Morrison said. “I’m here on behalf of the people who live, work, and travel through Gluckstadt and have to deal with that traffic every single day.”
The mayor said there is a miles-long traffic jam every morning and more ground is being turned over with new projects in the works, so the issue will only get worse. He said it is in the best interest of Gluckstadt, but also in the best interest of Madison County to solve this traffic issue in their city.
“You see, you didn’t mean to create this problem but the county created the problem of all this traffic,” Morrison said addressing the board. “It did so because we are blessed to be in a county where people want to live and work. You guys approved all of these new developments, rightly so, but the impact of doing that immensely increased the number of vehicles and the amount of traffic and the density of traffic that everyday goes through our city. I would ask you to give very serious consideration to beginning this project on the northerly part of Bozeman Road.”
This is the same suggestion that Supervisor Gerald Steen had for the board at the last meeting to consider, however Supervisor Trey Baxter and Supervisor Casey Brannon strongly disagree that starting on the north side of the road is the correct course of action.
“I agree with the mayor that the northern part of Bozeman Road has a traffic issue, and we’ve begun to address expanding that part of Bozeman Road…but we have worked for seven years now to push forward revising the south end,” Baxter said. “We are in the neighborhood of $10 million deep on the south side of Bozeman Road. We’ve also had state and federal legislators bring us money in good faith to widen the south side of Bozeman Road, so switching the project at this juncture would be catastrophic.”
Baxter continued that he agrees all of Bozeman Road needs to be expanded and he would vote to bond money to expand the whole road, however there is an order that needs to be followed. Brannon echoed that Phase I – the existing road being widened from Reunion Parkway to Highway 463, a multi use trail from Highway 463 to Gluckstadt Road, and the intersection of Bozeman Road at Gluckstadt Road upgraded to create better access – needs to be done first before Phase II, which consists of widening the road north from Reunion Parkway to Gluckstadt Road, can be done.
“The Phase I project currently is shovel ready,” Brannon said. “We have to bid it, and it will be started this year. It will be finished early 2026 if we bid it today and accept the bid at the end of 30 days. If we choose to ignore Phase I and skip straight to Phase II, we’ll possibly lose all of our state funding and it’ll be 2028. Right now, Phase I would be finished in 2026, and we would start on Phase II in 2028. It is no different starting with Phase II or Phase I, Phase II will not start until 2028.”
Brannon said the traffic will be the same or worse four years from now whichever phase is completed first.
“Phase I getting done will alleviate that traffic because the people hitting Bozeman Road will get off of Bozeman Road faster,” Brannon said. “They all want to go to the interstate and that’s where they’re headed. They want on the interstate to go to Madison, Ridgeland, Jackson, Brandon, Clinton, and Vicksburg. So, axing Phase I does nothing for your traffic until 2028 no matter how it’s done.”
Brannon stated support for Phase II in 2028, but said they needed to fix problems now that are ready to be fixed with Phase I having everything done and ready to go to construction once a bid is accepted. He made a motion to advertise for new bids for Phase I of Bozeman Road and it was seconded by Baxter.
Steen told the mayor the board hears clearly the traffic in Gluckstadt is coming from Stribling Road, Catlett Road, Gluckstadt Road, and subdivisions that the county approved in the last 15-20 years.
“We definitely need to look at Bozeman Road as a whole to help move traffic through Gluckstadt,” Steen said. “I’m definitely with you and I think this board is as well. We are going to move some motions forward to help get it started and, hopefully when the bids come in, we’ll get the bids and see what is best for Madison County.”
Brannon’s motion to advertise passed 5-0 and then Steed followed it up with three more motions, which divided Phase I up into separate bids. First, to advertise separately the intersection of Bozeman Road and Gluckstadt Road. Secondly, to advertise separately the widening from Reunion Interchange to Highway 463. Then, the third motion was made to begin buying right-of-way for the rest of Bozeman Road for Phase II. These motions all passed 3-2 with Baxter and Brannon voting against them.
Steen said his reasoning for putting out bids for the project separately in addition to as a whole will allow them to see what they’ll be able to afford to do, even if it is in pieces, and move forward on the project. However, Brannon expressed he voted against this as he’s never found anything to be cheaper in parts than buying it as a whole and that they shouldn’t be spending any money on Phase II until the first phase is completed.
“Breaking all this down is spending more money that doesn’t actually get anything done,” Brannon said. “I do not think it is a valid use of our time, a valid use of our resources, and it is still not going to happen until 2028. I think we need to focus on getting an actual road actually built with our money that the taxpayers gladly turn over every year. We are sitting here making motions to basically kill action… that gets nothing done and the same traffic is getting worse every day.”
Steen said he does want to move forward with the project and is breaking it down to see what the county can afford to do at this time.
“I am totally supportive of Bozeman Road and Gluckstadt Intersection and Reunion to 463,” Steen said. “No doubt about it, and we’re going to be moving forward with certain sections or maybe all of Phase I. It depends on what the bid comes in with.”
County Engineer Tim Bryan said both phases need to be done with Phase I being shovel ready with $7.5 million from the state and Phase II having two years worth of work to get to the point the first phase is at and having no funding allocated for it yet. County Administrator Greg Higginbotham said the entire project will be $64 million.
“This board hasn’t canceled or done anything as far as stopping anything,” Steen said. “What we’re trying to do is look at our finances to see how we can move forward, not only on Bozeman but we have other capital projects this board has agreed to do plus some that we are looking into at this point that the board has voted to move forward with.”
The bids for all four motions put forth and approved will be due in 30 days from advertisement, and the board will then have a chance to take further action in accepting bids to move forward.
