Madison County engineers report progress, right-of-way issues on Yandale Road segments

Engineers for Pickering briefed Madison County officials on design progress for two segments of Yandale Road — Yandale West (Old Canton Road to Bainbridge) and Yandale East (Bainbridge to Highway 43) — and highlighted right-of-way and geotechnical issues that could affect schedule and property acquisition.

The update matters because the segments cross private property and, on the east section, federal park land associated with the Natchez Trace Parkway. Those constraints could require title work, interagency coordination and additional base repairs that affect project timing and utility relocations.

Rick Ferguson, an engineer with Pickering, said the team completed right-of-way and property surveys for the west segment and finished a wetland delineation that identified about a quarter acre of potential wetland impacts. "We did find there's about a quarter acre of wetland impacts," Ferguson said. He added the team has sent that information to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to determine jurisdiction and that, if jurisdictional, the project would likely proceed under a nationwide permit without mitigation.

Ferguson said the team completed noise-study field work and modeling for the west segment and submitted field review plans to county reviewer Tim for comment. He reported that geotechnical field work for the west segment was completed by the contractor identified in the record as Burns Cody Dennis, and that geotech crews are moving eastward across multiple projects, leaving the Yandale geotechnical schedule slightly behind other work. "From a schedule standpoint it is a little bit behind schedule but it's the logistics of it or they're moving everything from west to east," Ferguson said.

For the west segment, Ferguson said property maps, acquisition plats and deeds work will begin once right-of-way approval is complete. He noted the county must coordinate with a parallel project reported by Lon to avoid splitting single-owner parcels between two acquisitions.

On the east segment, Ferguson said deed research showed right-of-way widths vary by property deed — in some places the deeded right-of-way is about 100 feet but in others it is narrower — and that the road may have been built on Natchez Trace Park property according to deed records. "Everything on the east side of the road is the, Natchez Trace, the park property. Well, according to the deeds, the road was built on park property," Ferguson said, adding coordination will be required with Eastern Federal Lands to determine options.

Ferguson said the east segment also has completed wetland delineation and noise-study field work, with geotechnical investigations scheduled next and a field review submittal planned later this year. He warned there will be "significant base repairs" in some areas that show through clay and that repair needs will inform final plans.

An unidentified attendee asked how much of the road sits on park property; Ferguson said he could obtain an exact acreage figure from deed research. Another attendee asked about utility coordination; Ferguson said utility owners have given preliminary responses but many prefer to wait until right-of-way acquisition is well underway or complete before beginning relocations.

The county thanked the engineering teams for quarterly updates and noted continued coordination will be necessary as right-of-way, geotechnical and federal land issues are resolved.