In an effort to alleviate traffic congestion on South Montgomery Street, the city is commissioning a feasibility study for an additional eastbound route from there that would connect to Mississippi State University.
Mayor Lynn Spruill plans to sign an agreement this week with the Neel-Schaffer engineering firm to begin the study, which will measure traffic counts in the area, design potential routes for aldermen and public feedback and, arguably most important, determine whether MSU leadership is agreeable to a connector that would cross university property.
The city will pay Neel-Schaffer up to $48,500 for the study, according to the agreement the firm’s North Mississippi manager Kevin Stafford presented to aldermen at their Friday morning work session. The board authorized the mayor in April to execute the contract once it was drawn up.
“I do think this (project) is a real possibility,” Spruill told The Dispatch after the meeting, adding it could conceivably come to fruition in the next five to 10 years. “It could greatly relieve traffic on South Montgomery.”
Currently, there’s a roughly four-mile stretch of heavily residential South Montgomery, between Locksley Way and East Poor House Road, with no eastbound connector to the university. Both Spruill and Stafford said one obvious route for a connector would be extending Shadowood Lane in the Timber Cove subdivision east across undeveloped land to the university. That route could also connect Brook Avenue in the Greenbriar subdivision and potentially keep university-bound traffic from both of those subdivisions off South Montgomery during commuting hours.
Stafford said a roadblock to that plan would be if the university disallowed the route to cut across any part of South Farm due to agricultural research restrictions. The other challenge would be talking to private landowners along proposed routes to obtain right-of-way.
Part of the study, Stafford said, would be collecting public input, as well as using cell phone locator data to measure if enough traffic would need the connector road to merit the investment. He said the study should be ready to present next spring.
Spruill said the study would also look at the traffic alleviating impact of a westbound road from the Adelaide development off South Montgomery to Louisville Street.
This new city-commissioned study comes on the heels of a larger regional study, funded by the Mississippi Department of Transportation, that Neel-Schaffer completed last year looking at needed transportation projects for Starkville, Oktibbeha County and MSU.
A piece of the regional study looked at needs along South Montgomery that did not include a connector road. Instead, it suggested a continuous center turn lane to run from Academy Road to Poor House, a project Stafford said would cost roughly $11.1 million “in 2021 dollars.” It also suggested a roundabout at where South Montgomery intersects with Academy Road.
Spruill said she believes connector roads, as well as adding more spots along South Montgomery for traffic to pull over for emergency vehicles, will prove smarter money spent than a center turn lane.
“It’s something worth studying, but I don’t think that $11 million gives us enough cost-benefit to make it a priority,” she said.
The long-range regional plan, a nearly 1,400-page document, identifies hundreds of millions in road, bicycle, pedestrian and public transportation project possibilities the city, county or university could pursue within the next 25 years if funding allows. Among them is an extension of Hospital Road to Highway 82 and extending Stark Road north to intersect with Hospital Road’s expanded route. The legislature has already awarded the city $1.5 million to begin the planning phases of the Stark extension, Spruill said.
“There’s no chance we’ll get all the projects done in the (long-range plan),” Spruill said. “What it does is show us where our needs and possibilities are so we can set priorities based on that.”
Sound off
■ FEEDBACK: To provide feedback on South Montgomery traffic issues, email [email protected]
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 40 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.