Starkville’s Highway 12 median conversation continues

STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI) – The debate about installing medians along Highway 12 in Starkville is nothing new.

The project started in 2017 and is now near completions. Left turn lanes on highway 12 in Starkville have been replaced with medians.

It may be a little more complicated for drivers, but city leadership says it’s in the best interest of all who travel this road.

“Barriers, division in the middle of the highway do not foster safety they impede safety,”said Co-owner of Backstage Music Allen McBroom.

More than 100 businesses and properties line highway 12 in Starkville. Allen McBroom owns one of those businesses. He doesn’t agree with the Mississippi Department Of Transportation’s plan to create smoother traffic flow by adding these medians.

Mayor Lynn Spruill believes it will be beneficial in the long run.

“Phase 1 was from basically Highway 25 the bypass area to Eckford Drive, that’s kind of beside Kentucky Fried Chicken. Phase 2 is taking up from there and moving onto Spring Street, toward the University,”said Starkville Mayor Lynn Spruill.

City officials says these medians were put here to help the community but business owners says it’s actually doing more harm than good.

“It’s got business down anywhere from 15 to 20%. They have to go down the highway and come back. Most of the people who go down the highway, they just keep going,”said owner of Petty’s BBQ Billy Pettys.

“It doesn’t hurt us to think a little bit about what we’re doing. It doesn’t hurt us to slow down a little bit. I don’t think the accessibility issue is of true significance when it comes to safety and safety is what this is about,”said Spruill.

McBroom says not only is it inconvenient to businesses but it may not be as safe as project leaders thought.

“Unless you drive a compact car or a mid-size or smaller car you’re not going to get on 12 and try and make a U-turn because there’s not enough room. Even when there are places where they put some cutouts on the side of the road to facilitate U-turns,”said McBroom.

Spruill says all that’s left for this project is to add landscape to some of the medians.

“It is what we want to project as being the best place to live in Mississippi and I think it shows that we care about our community and about the people who live in it from a safety standpoint as well as an aesthetic one. I think it matters a great deal,”said Spruill.

Officials hope to complete the project in the next few weeks, weather permitting.