VIDEO: Medians Construction Make Highway 12 Worse

STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI) – Highway 12 looks busier than ever, but it’s not necessarily a good thing.

The construction of medians in the middle of the sleepless highway has business workers and customers going literally the extra mile to get where they need to go.

Starkville’s Highway 12 is notorious for one thing: traffic.

A construction project adding medians to the highway is just adding to that notoriety.

“Too many people are having to go all the way to the end of the roads to go to the red lights to just come to our store, when they used to be able to get in the turn lane and just turn directly into our store,” said Scrubville sales clerk, Nikki Neal.

Some businesses take a humorous approach to the traffic hassle, but even that may not ease the pain at the cash registers..

“It’s a complete nightmare. I mean, it’s a traffic jam 24/7. If you’re on the opposite side of the road, it’s almost impossible to turn. It’s definitely going to impact business,” said Mattress Firm Store Manager, Josh Moorehead.

“It’s just crazy the way they’re doing it. You can’t get across the highway anymore, and you’ve got to go from one spot to the next spot to turn around and go back to the place you just passed by that you were going to,” said a Starkville resident.

Starkville Police are taking to social media to remind drivers of laws regarding u-turns.

It’s not just customers feeling the pain; employees make that same drive.

“…So you have to sit there and wait until your turn to even finally get to turn,” said Neal.

“I avoid it as much as I can. I take different routes just to stay off of this,” said Moorehead.

These medians are only phase one of MDOT’s plan for highway 12.

It is scheduled to finish in November of this year.