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Posted May 9, 2024, 5:57 PM
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Join Date: May 2023
Location: JXN Mississippi
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UMMC TO IMPROVE WATER SUPPLY
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The University of Mississippi Medical Center took a first step toward the construction of a water distribution line across the city’s right-of-way in North State Street.
The medical center asked for a memorandum of understanding to allow for the construction of the distribution line across the city’s right-of-way in North State Street, and the Jackson City Council authorized during its April 23 meeting for the mayor to execute one.
Brian Reddoch, director of construction at UMMC, told the council he did not yet have a timeline for the project that includes adding a new water well, but the memorandum of understanding is a start.
The medical center needs additional water supply as a result of recent additions to facilities on the grounds of the main campus, according to city information.
The medical center does not have sufficient space on the property on its main campus to construct a new well and plans to construct the well on the west side of North State Street across from the main campus.
In order to connect the well to the main campus, UMMC will need to cross the city’s right-of-way in North State Street.
Several council members raised concerns about the project causing problems during football season for Jackson State University, which plays at Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium.
Reddoch said the contractor for the project will have to shut work down on Thursday afternoon and make sure everything is safe should work fall during football season.
The project is estimated to take about a year because of the well being constructed, he said.
According to information provided by the city, the water distribution line will allow UMMC clinics in the building located at 764 Lakeland Drive to continue operating should there be an outage of the city’s water supply.
https://www.northsidesun.com/ummc-im...?e_term_id=120
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UPDATE: U.S. 80 bridge repair underway in Rankin County
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JACKSON, MISS.---Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT) officials are finalizing plans to repair several steel girders on the westbound U.S. 80 bridge over the KCS railroad between Marquette Rd. and Interstate 20 in Brandon.
Officials closed the inside lane of the bridge after discovering rusted steel girders during a recent bridge inspection. This repair process, from the design and fabrication to the installation, is expected to last approximately one month.
“Although the bridge is safe for travel, the inside westbound lane of the bridge is currently closed as a precautionary measure to reduce the load on the structure while allowing our crews to assess, design and complete the repair,” said Mississippi Transportation Commission Chairman Willie Simmons. “Rest assured, we are working to expedite this process and get the lane reopened as quickly as possible. We are also evaluating signal timings along the U.S. 80 corridor to minimize potential delays.”
Both the eastbound and westbound U.S. 80 bridges are scheduled to be let for replacement in late 2024 with work beginning spring 2025. The westbound U.S. 80 bridge was built in 1938, and the adjacent U.S. 80 eastbound concrete bridge was built in 1966. The U.S. 80 eastbound concrete bridge will not be impacted by the repair currently underway.
“Once the steel plates are fabricated and shipped, the repair process itself will not take long,” said Simmons. “Until then, please be patient, slow down and watch out for roadside crews at or near the bridge. Let’s give them the space to safely complete this critical work as quickly as possible.”
Officials anticipate reopening the inside lane of U.S. 80 westbound by early June 2024.
https://mdot.ms.gov/portal/news_release_view/1904
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More coverage of the news
• Video Link
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BRANDON, Miss. —
It’s hard to travel highways in the Jackson area without dodging or trying to avoid construction repair work, and there are a lot of projects underway.
On Highway 80 in Brandon, crews have been working overnight to repair the underside of a railroad crossing headed east. A support girder was rusted to the point of needing urgent repair. The Mississippi Department of Transportation is fabricating a new girder to replace it.
“I think it needs to be done. Some of the roads are in pretty bad shape,” said driver John Ray. “It’s a good thing they are tackling that job. I like the fact that they are doing it at night.”
The MDOT work is largely being done overnight to try to limit the impact on drivers. That’s also been the case with the Interstate 20 repaving work, the latest of which is where I-55 merges to I-20 east.
“The bumps are the biggest thing. To be driving that concrete, I’m used to driving on a little softer roads,” said driver Chris Bennett.
MDOT crews have been repaving sections of I-20, but that is actually a temporary fix.
“The project is going to go to the end of the summer, and we have added a part on the project. We will place a 1-inch overlay onto the removal they are doing there, which will make the riding surface a lot smoother for motorists, which will hold us over until we get to a more permanent fix,” said Michael Flood, with MDOT.
That permanent fix means MDOT does plan to come back and resurface the I-20 roadway again. The 1-inch overlay was an effort to lessen the impact on drivers while work crews scraped the road surface away and repaired foundation spots.
“This is more of a temporary fix, but we are hoping it will last years, not months,” Flood said. “We are planning to do a more permanent fix, but that is going to involve many closures over a long period of time.”
MDOT is still working on a timeline for the $14 million I-20 project. The temporary repaving should be done by the end of the summer. The Brandon bridge work job still has several more weeks to go.
https://www.wapt.com/article/mississ...eason/60735530
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Madison County approves $16M plan to improve courthouse
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MADISON COUNTY, Miss. (WJTV) – The Madison County Board of Supervisors approved a $16 million plan to improve the circuit courthouse.
The Madison County Journal reported there have been ongoing issues with the courthouse for years, including damage to a carpet and ceiling leaks.
Supervisors also considered building a new tax assessor/collector building and investing into the historic courthouse on the Canton Square.
https://www.wjtv.com/news/local-news...ve-courthouse/
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Revell Ace Hardware Celebrates Grand Re-Opening
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Revell Ace Hardware is celebrating a grand re-opening at all Revell Ace Hardware locations.
America’s most celebrated “helpful place” is celebrating a grand re-opening at its Pearl, Clinton, Byram, Richland/Florence, Reservoir, Northeast Jackson, and Madison locations. Revell Ace Hardware brings the company’s unique blend of personal, knowledgeable, and helpful service, paired with quality products, to Central Mississippi residents.
“We are so excited about the Grand Re-Opening Sale and Celebration! We will be celebrating with doorbusters, grilling, vendors, demonstrations, giveaways, and lots of great deals! We are thrilled to be part of the community and look forward to continuing to serve our customers!” Joe Rooks.
All throughout the month of May customers can come into any Revell Ace Hardware location to enjoy the chance to win a variety of giveaways and take advantage of exclusive sales and offers. Then, from 5/23 to 5/25, the “Main Event,” Revell will be giving away a Big Green Egg grill package valued at over $1,000, a Milwaukee Power Tool package valued at over $400 and a Benjamin Moore “Paint a Room Makeover Kit” valued at over $200.
Revell Ace Hardware is dedicated to meeting the needs of the local community, offering the products and services customers have come to expect from them. They specialize in providing solutions to everyday maintenance needs as well as an extensive array of high-quality products in categories such as lawn and garden, electrical, grilling, hardware, plumbing, paint, and power equipment.
The stores are packed with thousands of essential products and supplies including some of the most respected brand names such as Big Green Egg, Blackstone, Traeger, Scotts, Weber, Milwaukee, Benjamin Moore, Stihl, Ego, Kress, Gravely and Scag.
Revell Ace Hardware hours of operation are Monday – Saturday 7:00 am – 6: 00 pm.
https://www.theclintoncourier.net/20...nd-re-opening/
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Highway 80 in Clinton to undergo big changes
![](https://www.theclintoncourier.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/MDOT-Hwy80-Walmart.png)
MDOT rendering of expected changes to Highway 80 from Clinton-Raymond Road in the west to near Hannah Drive on the east.
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Drivers in Clinton will have to get used to a new way of navigating U.S. Highway 80 once the Mississippi Department of Transportation completes a redesign of the highway to limit left turns off of the highway stretching from Clinton-Raymond Road on the west to Shaw Road on the east.
“Currently, you have a five-lane section on U.S. 80 with a continuous center left-turn lane,” notes Mark Thomas, state safety engineer with MDOT’s Division of Highway Safety.
“When you convert that to a boulevard, you take portions of that two-way left turn lane and put in a concrete median or raised islands, sometimes with landscaping to improve access management on that corridor,” says Thomas.
It means drivers on the 2.8-mile stretch of Highway 80 would able to turn left only at signalized intersections and certain median openings, which MDOT says were chosen based on traffic counts, design standards and additional factors. And those pulling out into traffic from parking lots would have to turn right—even if they want to go left.
“For the majority of locations that are not signalized intersections, the driver will judge the cars that are nearest to them, make a right, then go down [to the next traffic light or a left-turn lane where permitted] and make a U-turn to go back in the direction they may have been trying to travel,” Thomas says.
The goal is fewer vehicles turning across oncoming traffic to reduce the number of crashes.
Thomas says a lot is going through a driver’s mind when they’re trying to cross five lanes of traffic.
![](https://www.theclintoncourier.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/MDOT-Hwy80-3.jpg)
“Even if you’re just trying to go out [of a parking lot] and make a left, you’re having to evaluate the two lanes closest to you, if anybody is in the turn lane and then, obviously, [having to] evaluate the traffic that’s coming in the lanes you want to be in,” he says. “What we’re trying to do in its simplest form is to minimize the decisions people have to make.”
MDOT officials say that what they plan to do in Clinton is already working in Starkville. A similar redesign of State Highway 12 that began with a safety analysis in 2015 has paid off in an “incredibly beneficial” way, according to Starkville Mayor Lynn Spruill.
Spruill admits there was some initial pushback from businesses concerned that the traffic restrictions might be a burden for their customers.
“I still get grumbling, but I don’t believe it took [the businesses] too long to recover from the changes, once their customers got used to the new routing,” she says.
Spruill says the impact on safety is undeniable.
“Our traffic accidents have decreased significantly, approximately thirty percent,” Spruill reports. “Those stats alone make it a positive change.”
She also says irrigating the median allowed for landscaping to be installed, “so that we could beautify the stretch of highway.”
That’s the look that Clinton Mayor Phil Fisher wants along Highway 80.
“We don’t want to have the concrete in the middle,” Fisher says. “We want to go with more of a ‘parkway’ look.’ I think it’s going to be a real beautiful asset to the city. Right now, Highway 80 looks like a road between two truck stops. This is going to turn it into something for people to enjoy.”
Fisher is hoping Clinton sees the same kind of reduction in traffic accidents that Starkville has.
“Taking out that ‘I-dare-you lane’ in the middle and the additional safety that brings is a lot [better] than set up like it is now.”
He says when the boulevard idea was first proposed about five years ago, business owners who were asked for their input didn’t voice any objections. The mayor believes customers will make the necessary adjustments.
“If you want to go to a particular store, you’re going to find a way to get there,” he says.
![](https://www.theclintoncourier.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/MDOT-Hwy80-1.jpg)
Thomas, the MDOT official, points to national studies showing little lasting impact on businesses located along highways undergoing such changes.
“Strong businesses that were there before these kinds of projects come in are there afterwards,” Thomas says. “I’ve seen that personally in Starkville.”
Mississippi College Chief Financial Officer Laura Jackson says she is happy that the preliminary concept for the Highway 80 project includes two roundabouts at the entrances to the new mixed-use development that’s being built across the highway from the campus.
“Our goal was to try to make sure that we could get pedestrians across Highway 80 safely and that we could slow the traffic down in that area,” Jackson says. “Well, the best way to accomplish slowing the traffic down is roundabouts. MDOT and all statistics that you can read will show you that high-impact collisions are less likely with roundabouts than they are with intersections.”
The pace of progress with the development currently known as the 80/20 Project will help dictate the timing of the work on Highway 80.
“I said from the very first meeting with [MDOT], when we started this conversation, what I don’t need is for us to have businesses that open, three, four years down the road and all of a sudden, a year later, you tear up Highway 80 in front of it,” Jackson recalls. “That’s not going to work.” But she says MDOT understands. “They’re very in tune to making sure that our project timelines somewhat align.”
The public was given an opportunity to get a look at the initial concept for the highway redesign at a meeting MDOT hosted at the Clinton Train Depot in early April.
Real estate agent Cindy Robertson attended the meeting and said a new-look for Highway 80 would be “progress” for Clinton.
“Personally, I like a turn lane,” says Robertson. “But I understand that turn lanes are hard as we grow as a city. I love the fact that we would put the green in and plant shrubbery. It would give the city a nicer look.”
Jeff Altman, an engineer manager for Neel-Schaffer, which is designing the project, says it’s currently in Phase A.
“Really, what you’re doing is just trying to get the overall scope of the project, doing public meetings and getting that input. Then, when we move into the next phase—which would be Phase B—that would be the actual design of the contract.”
Altman says they hope to be at that point this summer.
“Our schedule would take us through probably the end of the year, maybe the first of 2025 finishing this up,” Altman says. “And then, it would be up to MDOT.”
2024-04-09 – US 80 Project Layout 1
https://www.theclintoncourier.net/wp...-1-Reduced.pdf
2024-04-09 – US 80 Project Layout 2
https://www.theclintoncourier.net/wp...-2-Reduced.pdf
https://www.theclintoncourier.net/20...o-big-changes/
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