A $4.8 million project to complete a decade-long effort to repave Charleigh D. Ford Jr. Drive was completed late last week, just in time for the construction of Aluminum Dynamics.
The 4.6-mile road extends from Airport Road, north of Golden Triangle Regional Airport, and connects with Artesia Road to the south. Roughly 3 miles had already been paved. The latest upgrade completed 1.6 miles of the southern portion.
Lowndes County Board of Supervisors President Trip Hairston told The Dispatch the project, which started paving in March, will provide safe and steady access for trucks hauling construction equipment and materials to build ADI’s flat-rolled aluminum mill, which will begin construction in the summer.
The freshly paved road will also give access to companies within the industrial park, which include Altex Tube, the FedEx Ground facility, Steel Dynamics Incorporated and Paccar, to name a few.
“I’m very excited about that being done,” Hairston said. “That helps with construction traffic. Obviously, it helps with the maintenance of that road because when you have a lot of the trucks moving in and out of there, as they begin construction, it just creates a lot of issues when it comes to maintenance. So with that being paved up to the standard that it is, that will cut down on a ton of maintenance.”
In November, The Mississippi State Legislature passed a $243 million incentive package to assist the $2 billion project for ADI to locate its aluminum mill off of Charleigh D. Ford Jr. Drive and the construction of a biocarbon manufacturing plant on Artesia Road, near the International Paper pulp mill.
Of that package, $24 million was allocated to Lowndes County to finish Charleigh D. Ford Jr. Drive, upgrade portions of Artesia Road and for the construction of Manufacturers Drive Loop.
LINK CEO Joe Max Higgins said the paving of the road became a necessity when ADI declared for the 2,100 acres located just off the road.
“That road has been playing for several years and a portion of it was already paved by the FedEx building,” Higgins said. “The southern portion of that had not been paved. So I think it was really important that we completed this project and the ADI project, let us do that.”
Higgins said upgrades to Artesia Road and Manufacturers Drive Loop will begin in 2024.
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