Hawkins cautions drivers to use patience while traveling 82 East
LOWNDES COUNTY/CLAY COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – Drivers traveling Highway 82 East between Starkville and Columbus this weekend will need to pack their patience and pay attention.
With holiday shopping and events, there will be a lot of people on the roads, and there will be a major construction project forcing a shutdown along 82 and a detour.
This shutdown runs from 10 pm tonight until 5 am on Monday, December 08.
Lowndes County Sheriff Eddie Hawkins is encouraging drivers who are traveling 82 eastbound into Columbus to use caution and patience.
“This is one of the busiest shopping weekends of the year here in Columbus. So the traffic’s already heavy on Highway 45, and diverting all this traffic off of 82 and placing that traffic onto 45 is going to bring that much more traffic to the area. So we’re asking residents to be patient, be cautious with the extra amount of traffic,” Hawkins said.
Hawkins says there’s a lot happening this weekend in the middle of construction, from shopping to charity events to holiday gatherings; it all fell on the same weekend. And that could lead to some major backups.
“Absolutely, you’re diverting a lot of traffic off of Highway 82 through West Point and then back in Columbus, and with that additional traffic, there are going to be bottlenecks of traffic problems. Through The Highway 45 Alternate. You know traffic is heavy this time of year anyway, with the additional traffic coming off 82 it’s just going to make it that much worse,” Hawkins said.
He says they’ve met with the Lowndes County Emergency Management, the Mississippi Highway Patrol, and The Mississippi Department of Transportation and are also working with Clay County to make this weekend as smooth as possible. But fender benders are to be expected. And drivers should use caution. To control this, Hawkins said they’re going to bring in extra manpower.
“We’ll be working traffic out on Highway 82, helping divert the traffic that’s coming east on Highway 82 making sure that they don’t come into the construction zone but with the additional traffic flows we are going to bring some additional deputies in to work this area to make sure that everybody stays safe,” he said.
Hawkins says he can’t stress enough for people to use caution and patience this weekend. He tells WCBI drivers should be prepared, plan ahead, and again use caution and have patience.
