Road projects aim to pave the way for the Friendly City

COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI)- Traffic flow was the topic at the Columbus Rotary Club meeting.

City Engineer Kevin Stafford talked about upcoming road projects in the “Friendly City.”

Starting in March, MDOT is expected to begin making changes in some of the city’s heavily traveled areas.

Some those including two interchange projects at 18th Avenue and Highway 82 and a new signal for signal coordination in that area, that’s often congested.

Another big one is the Main and 2nd Street project which is expected to consist of a roundabout.

Stafford says this will help will traffic flow and it keeps peoples safety in mind.

“It’s just beginning the designing phase. It will be about a year to complete that design before we go to construction, but that’s going to be a mini round about. It will slow traffic down. It will increase safety and we will also add pedestrian connectivity there that doesn’t exist right now for the riverwalk and also across the street to get down to the soccer complex,” said Stafford.

The Main Street and 2nd Street project is a tap funding project.

The city has allocated $300,000 while MDOT has allocated $700,000.