North Mississippi Road Improvement Projects

TUPELO, Miss. (Press Release) —“The Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT) has announced updates to several major infrastructure improvement projects in the Northern Transportation District,” said Commissioner Mike Tagert. “The projects are located throughout Itawamba, Monroe, Pontotoc and Union counties in the northeastern portion of the state and will greatly improve safety and mobility in the region.”

State Route 15 in Pontotoc County

“Construction of the new lanes and bridges along State Route 15 is progressing well,” said MDOT District One Engineer Mark Holley. “We anticipate this project to be complete in the fall of 2017; however, MDOT’s current timetable shows that the project is moving ahead of schedule.”

This project, which began in May 2016, will construct two new lanes on State Route 15 from State Route 76 to the Pontotoc-Union County line. In addition, three bridges are being constructed as part of the project to accommodate the new travel lanes. A paving project is scheduled to take place once dirt work has been completed, but with no funding for this phase of the project at this time, there is no date for when the paving project will begin.

“This project will increase safety and improve mobility for the traveling public in Pontotoc and Union counties,” Holley said.

Other major projects in MDOT’s District One include the following.

• State Route 178 Bridge over the Mantachie Creek in Itawamba County – This project is to conduct maintenance repairs on the bridge’s substructure and superstructure. Crews have completed replacement and straightening of the bridge’s steel truss members. The next phase of the project will include preparation and structural painting of all exposed steel members. This process will protect the exposed steel from weathering. The existing paint on the bridge is lead based, and in order to protect the Mantachie Creek and surrounding environment, a containment system will be placed around the bridge to prevent contamination. MDOT anticipates this project to be complete mid-fall 2016.
• New State Route 25 in Monroe County – Currently, crews are working on a five mile section from just south of Becker to US 278 near Walmart. MDOT anticipates these two lanes will be complete in summer 2017. There are two other sections where plans have been completed north of U.S. 278; however, due to the current lack of available funding, there is no timeline for when construction on these additional sections will begin.
• Bridge Repair on Interstate 22 in Union County – This project will repair portions of the decks on bridges over Central Avenue and the Little Tallahatchie River. The northwest ramp at Central Avenue and the outside lane of the Little Tallahatchie Bridge will be closed through mid-summer. MDOT anticipates this project will be completed by early fall 2016.

For more information about these MDOT construction projects, visit www.MDOTtraffic.com, call Mississippi 511, download the free MDOT Traffic app in the App Store or Google Play store and like and follow @MississippiDOT on Facebook and Twitter.