A major infrastructure project that will boost pedestrian and bike connectivity in the Russell Street corridor should begin in 2016, Northern Miss. Transportation Commissioner Mike Tagert said Wednesday.
Tagert updated business and community leaders during the Greater Starkville Development Partnership’s Power Breakfast about the project, which will add additional bike paths and sidewalks along the area seen as a developing economic front door to Mississippi State University.
The Russell Street plan is simple: Workers will remodel the four-lane road to two lanes and add a center turning lane. In the extra space created from the reduction, bike paths and sidewalks will be added that connect to existing infrastructure.
The project is estimated at $900,000, but only 20 percent of the total cost will come from a joint Starkville-MSU partnership. The remainder, Tagert said, is funded through a federal alternative transportation program.
Administrative work first began two years ago when aldermen commissioned a traffic study for the area in preparation for grant applications. Although the project is still in the design phase, Tagert said construction contracts should be executed this time next year, paving the way for actual work to begin.
“We think it’s a real game-changing project for that area,” he said. “At the least, it will serve as a direct pedestrian connection between the city and university. It could even help spur further economic development.”
Lane closures are expected once work commences, but Tagert said the heavily used street is expected to have at least two lanes open for the entirety of the project.
The lane-reduction plan is not expected to bottleneck traffic, he said, as the road will still have capacity for projected usage. A turning lane is also expected to improve safety in the area, he said.
A separate project is also expected to redesign the Russell Street-Highway 12 intersection to help with safety issues, including curbing speeds at which vehicles exit into the city.
Pedestrian infrastructure is needed in the area as the corridor continues to develop. Two major projects — The Mill at MSU and Cotton Mill Marketplace — will add two hotels, numerous retail shops and a parking deck while also transforming the historic cotton mill into a major conference center.
The developing Russell Street corridor links to Main Street, Starkville’s central business district, via Lampkin and Montgomery streets.
Officials began addressing connectivity issues in the Russell-Lampkin-Montgomery, which were previously identified as long-term needs, with other pedestrian improvements — sidewalks, crosswalks and bike paths — in the area through grant funding.
The business corridor has also seen new developments in the past years, including the old Borden milk plant’s renovation into the Central Station development and the construction of Renasant Bank. New developments are also predicted for the area.
“A key point of our 2011 charrette was the addition of these types of connections. With the Mill development underway and planned developments, this corridor is quickly becoming a main gateway,” said GSDP CEO Jennifer Gregory.
Tagert said other local infrastructure studies could occur in the future, including one to help alleviate Highway 12 congestion by resynching traffic lights. The highway has the capacity for current loads, he said, but out-of-time intersections are complicating intersection waits.
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
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