Bozeman Road widening proceeds

After over a decade of delays, the Bozeman Road widening project will be under construction soon.

On Monday, the Board of Supervisors approved a $38,626,968 bid for Bozeman Road Phase I, which includes widening the road and installing a walking trail from Mississippi 463 to Gluckstadt Road. Improvements will also be made at the Bozeman Road/Gluckstadt Road intersection. 

The bid came in around $800,000 more than an earlier bid that was rejected. The lone bidder on the project was Hemphill Construction. 

A decade of discussion, debate, and in-fighting on the Madison County Board of Supervisors has slowed the project.

After multiple attempts earlier in the year to re-bid the project by other supervisors, Board President Gerald Steen in March led a 3-2 majority vote with District 4 Supervisor Karl Banks and District 5 Supervisor Paul Griffin to re-bid Phase 1 in pieces in addition to one project. 

Constructing Phase I in pieces would have saved the county $1.3 million, but County Engineer Tim Bryan said they would not be able to use federal funding if they moved forward with the project if it was piece-milled. 

The county received $4.4 million from the Central Mississippi Planning and Development District in a Federal Surface Transportation Block Grant to construct the walking trail. 

The board ultimately decided to accept the bid for the entire project. 

Bozeman Road Phase I and Phase II are both part of a nearly $250 million transportation plan approved unanimously by the board in May. 

The county is currently acquiring right-of-way for Bozeman Phase II, which is widening of the road from Reunion Parkway north to Gluckstadt Road. 

District 2 Supervisor Trey Baxter asked Bryan when he would see shovels in the ground on Phase I. 

Bryan told supervisors that the plans would be forwarded to the Mississippi Department of Transportation and that the process could take around two months. Construction will begin shortly after.