New signage will be going up along Airport Road after the Lowndes County Board of Supervisors learned it is the county’s responsibility to provide and maintain them.
At Monday morning’s regular supervisors meeting, Neel-Schaffer Engineer John Freeman told the board a memorandum of understanding signed with Mississippi Department of Transportation made the signage the county’s problem.
During the Oct. 31 meeting, District 5 Supervisor Leroy Brooks voiced concerns about poor signage on Airport Road. County Administrator Jay Fisher said a safety manager at Steel Dynamics had told him a truck leaving the plant had ended up on the wrong side of the divided highway.
At the time there was some confusion over who, exactly, was responsible for signs due to some tangled back-and-forth between the county and the state. Freeman was told to contact MDOT and find out, and Monday he broke the bad news.
“The signs are mentioned in your (memorandum of understanding with MDOT) three times,” Freeman said. “All show it’s the responsibility of the supervisors.”
District 1 Supervisor Harry Sanders disputed that, claiming the agreement stated the county would maintain the road for 10 years and then responsibility would fall back onto MDOT.
Brooks opined it was best for the county to go ahead and put up the signs and not get into a “back-and-forth” with the state.
“If somebody gets killed, and we knew the problem was there, then they’re going to look at the board,” Brooks said. “It’s our duty. We need to take care of it as fast as we can. It’s a major road.”
County Road Manager Mike Aldridge said he had already ordered new signs for the intersection of Airport and Charleigh Ford Road.
“That sign is already being made,” Aldridge said. “I’m just going to have our people hang it when it comes in.”
The board directed Aldridge to get with Freeman and figure out what signs were needed and get them up “as soon as possible.”
President and District 2 Supervisor Trip Hairston told The Dispatch the county would put up “wrong way” signs and also replace worn-out signs along that stretch of road.
“If somebody comes off of Highway 82 West and they come to get on Airport Road, it’s a little bit confusing,” Hairston said. “If they make an immediate left, they are traveling on the wrong side of the road. We want to try to prevent people from turning that way.”
Brian Jones is the local government reporter for Columbus and Lowndes County.
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