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Since mid-October, drivers traveling along Fifth Street North between Hwy. 82 and the Magnolia Bowl have encountered extensive construction, including a reduced-speed zone, traffic cones and crews working along the corridor.

The Fifth Street North improvement project is part of a long-term plan to improve pedestrian safety, accessibility and the overall streetscape. While city officials say progress is steady and the improvements will be significant, some residents have expressed frustration with the delays.

What’s taking so long on the improvements? When is the project expected to be complete? What will it all include?

What’s happening?

Funded by a $1.3 million Transportation Alternatives Program grant from the Mississippi Department of Transportation, the project aims to improve pedestrian safety and bike lanes between Fifth Avenue and Ninth Avenue North, from the Magnolia Bowl to the road just south of the Highway 82 interchange.

The city is contributing roughly $585,000 in matching funds, including $75,000 set aside for or contingencies, paid with internet use tax funds.

City Engineer Kevin Stafford said the corridor has had longstanding issues with speeding and unsafe pedestrian conditions.

“People are walking up and down Fifth Street, pushing buggies in the street… there was actually a dirt trail worn down where people were walking,” Staffod. “At the laundromat, people would cross the street to the gas station while their clothes were being done … for lack of a better word, they were ‘froggering’ across traffic.”

Narrower traffic lanes and accommodations for bike and pedestrian traffic are being added to encourage slower driving. Americans With Disabilities Act-compliant sidewalks are also being added to the corridor, along with pedestrian signals and crossings, curb extensions at each intersection, decorative acorn-style lighting with underground electrical and fresh landscaping.

Stafford said the new street lighting “will be decorative, similar to the soccer complex and what Parkview (will have). It will provide a cleaner aesthetic and improve visibility.”

The project also extends the downtown string lights toward Highway 82, creating a “warm welcome” for visitors, he said.

Why is it taking this long?

Crews from Burns Dirt Construction have been working on underground utilities, demolition, electrical work and pouring concrete foundations for light poles since starting work in October. CEO Nic Parish said winter weather can limit progress, especially when pouring concrete for curbs and sidewalks.

“If it freezes, it can damage the concrete, so if we have a day where we can pour but it’s going to freeze, we have to cover and blanket it overnight,” Parish said. “That shortens our window for work.”

Parish added that the crew is motivated to work efficiently.

“We want to be done worse than anybody,” he said. “We make more money if we get done faster. People see it taking a while, but it’s the rules, the weather and the inspections that hold us back.”

Stafford said additional oversight required by federal funding sources also extends the timeline.

“There’s more documentation and testing at every step,” he said. “… The concrete that’s being poured right now for the lamp posts has to pass inspections before we move forward … and those inspections (take place) 28 days after pouring.”

When will it be done?

Substantial progress is expected to be visible by March, Stafford and Parish agreed, with the full project – including landscaping, lighting and final touches – anticipated to be completed by April or early May.

Once complete, the corridor will provide safer routes for pedestrians and cyclists, improved connectivity to downtown and enhanced aesthetics.

“It’s a long-term investment in public safety and accessibility, not just a sidewalk,” Stafford said.

The improvements are part of a broader initiative to connect sidewalks throughout Columbus, eventually linking downtown to the soccer complex, Moore’s Creek and Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle.

Parish emphasized the project’s scope.

“It’s not just putting concrete on the ground,” he said. “We’re narrowing lanes, adding islands for landscaping, improving driveway access, installing lighting and upgrading signals for pedestrians. It’s a full corridor improvement.”