Madison County hears update on Yandell Road improvements; engineers flag floodway issue at two bridges

Madison County officials received an update on the Yandell Road Improvements Project on a presentation by engineers from Wagner Engineering covering design progress, property impacts and drainage concerns.

The project covers two segments of Yandell Road — from Highway 51 to Smith Car Road and from Smith Car Road to North Old Canton Road — and would widen most of the corridor to a five-lane cross section, engineers said. "As it stands today ... we're about 27, 28% complete" on design, Darien Warren, an engineer with Wagner Engineering, told the meeting.

Wagner outlined milestone work that remains: right-of-way analysis, parcel impact studies, utility-provider coordination, conceptual and final roadway design and environmental review. The firm said it had completed utility coordination with providers and field surveys and had obtained the providers' plans for incorporation into the design.

Engineers reported that they have identified 78 parcels that will be affected by the project across the two segments: 18 parcels between Highway 51 and Clarkdale Road; 19 from Clarkdale to Smith Car; 24 from Smith Car to Johnson Lane; and 17 from Johnson Lane to North Old Canton Road. Warren said the team identified 12 utility providers earlier in the process; a later comment in the presentation referenced contacting 12 providers or 16 assets within the corridor.

Paul Foley, an engineer with Wagner Engineering, described a hydraulic analysis of two bridge crossings in the Smith Car Road to North Old Canton Road segment. Foley said Wagner duplicated an existing-condition hydraulic model for the area after the original FEMA model was unavailable and that "the simulated water surface for the 100-year design storm is approximately 2 and a half feet higher" at the upstream elevation of the bridge low chord. He said widening the bridge from the existing 28-foot width to a 68-foot section to accommodate the five-lane corridor would add roughly another half-foot of rise, about a 3-foot net increase over the existing condition.

Because those bridge crossings lie within a FEMA regulatory floodway, the engineers said the project cannot substantiate a standard "no-rise" certification as currently modeled; the county would therefore likely need a Letter of Map Revision or structural changes to proceed. Wagner and county staff agreed to a technical follow-up to evaluate alternatives, including options to raise or otherwise modify the bridge structures.

On schedule and construction timing, Wagner said conceptual roadway design finished ahead of schedule (completed May 1 rather than the planned June date) and that environmental review was ongoing and targeted for completion by December, with a hope to finish by August. The firm reported the preliminary engineering phase has been accelerated and that final design and utility relocation are anticipated by the first quarter of 2027. County staff said right-of-way acquisition and utility relocation remain drivers of the start date: one county staff member estimated construction of the first (three-lane) phase could begin in early 2026, while Wagner cautioned full construction of the five-lane project could be “a year and a half out” before construction could start, calling that an aggressive timeline.

County staff gave a rough construction-duration and cost estimate for the Highway 51 to Clarkdale intersection project tied to an upcoming signal: approximately six to nine months of construction for a roughly $3,000,000 contract, though officials said that schedule would be weather dependent and contingent on completing utility moves and right-of-way.

Next steps cited in the meeting included further coordination with Entergy and other utility providers, additional technical meetings between Wagner and county engineering staff (identified as Tim and Stan during the discussion) to evaluate bridge alternatives, and continued work on environmental review and final design. No formal vote or binding decision was recorded during the update.

The engineers and county staff emphasized that the project's design and construction sequencing must avoid increasing flood risk across the corridor; any structural changes to the two bridge crossings will be reviewed with the county before finalizing the design.