Wishlist highlights Madison highways
A wishlist of 10 MDOT road projects for Madison County include two on I-55 between Madison and Gluckstadt worth almost $85 million combined.
Central Mississippi Transportation Commissioner Willie Simmons outlined for the the Board of Supervisors roughly 10 future MDOT projects estimated to cost about $148 million set for Madison County going forward through 2028.
MDOT Spokesman Michael Flood clarified that this is a “priority” list and that these projects are not yet planned or funded by state, federal or local dollars.
The Madison County Board of Supervisors welcomed Simmons at their regular meeting on July 18. Simmons outlined $148 million for Madison County infrastructure to be paid from federal and state funds between 2020 and 2028, County spokesman Heath Hall said.
Three projects make up well over half of the funding.
Mississippi 463 to Gluckstadt
• The first of the four largest projects looks to widen I-55 from Mississippi 463 to Gluckstadt Road. The project is expected to cost $50 million and officials currently are not sure when they expect bidding on the project to begin.
Madison exit widening
• The second largest project is a $34.3 widening project on I-55 at the Madison exit. Simmons’s current projections say they hope to begin bidding that project as early as the first of next year.
Highway 51 bridges
• The third is a $29.6 million porject to construct about five bridges north of Canton on Highway 51 toward the Holmes County line. Simmons’s projections say they would like to start bidding this project in late 2025
In addition to the larger bridge project, the wish list incudes at least two other bridge projects north of Canton.
The wish list includes a package of another five bridges on the same stretch of road estimated to cost $17 million.
Simmons projections say they would like to start bidding as early as May of 2023. There was also a single bridge project on the same stretch of road estimated to cost $1 million and is anticipated to start bidding in November of 2025.
Other projects listed include:
• Paving Highway 22 from where it five lanes to Highway 51. This project is projected to cost $2.5 million and MDOT hopes to start bidding the project soon.
• Improvements at the intersection of Highway 51 and Green Oak Lane. The project has a projected cost of $2.3 million and MDOT would like to start bidding the project as early as the beginning of next year.
• A $4 million paving project of Highway 51 from Madison to Dinkins Street in Canton. MDOT hopes to start bidding the project as early as January of 2024.
• Paving Highway 16 from Canton to Leake County. Officials hope to bid the $4.3 million project in April of 2024.
• A $3 million project installing cable rails along along I-55 in Madison County and I-20 in Hinds County. Simmons said he does not know when they expect to begin bidding this project.
Simmons told supervisors he is optimistic about the projects as MDOT recently received a budget of roughly $1.4 billion, the largest he is aware of in recent memory.