MDOT highlights Greenville bypass, Yazoo overlay, Highway 19 four-laning and Jackson-area work

Mississippi Department of Transportation Central District Commissioner Willie Simmons described a string of active and upcoming projects across the state during the Extra Mile podcast.

Simmons said the Greenville bypass on U.S. 82 is a roughly $215,000,000 project being built by Utah Construction Company and that MDOT expects it to be completed and open to traffic by Labor Day. "As a matter of fact, we're ahead of schedule," Simmons said, adding the bypass will improve safety by routing heavy trucks away from residential and business areas in Greenville.

Simmons said MDOT received a discretionary federal grant of about $35,000,000 to overlay Highway 49 from Satartia to Yazoo. He also said the last phase of the Highway 19 four‑lane project in Neshoba County has been let to Yates Construction and will complete the multi-phase upgrade from Philadelphia toward Meridian.

In the Jackson metro area, Simmons described concurrent projects on Interstate 55 at the Pearl River and work on Highway 80 that together are causing traffic disruption while crews perform bridge, interchange and paving work. He said MDOT recently let a contract to pave an approximately 11‑mile stretch of Interstate 20 east of Brandon and that the department has a roughly $2,400,000 contract to install lighting on that segment.

Simmons also mentioned a roundabout and other improvements planned in Philadelphia to better accommodate large trucks serving warehouses and said MDOT is engaged in bridge work and widening near sites where a private data center developer, Compass, plans investment in Lauderdale County.

For non-highway connectivity, Simmons described a local public agency (LPA) project in Jackson called the Museum Trail, which connects the agriculture museum under I‑55 to the children's museum, the hall of fame museum and Jackson State University by a walking and bike trail. He credited the Heart Association and multiple public and private partners for the LPA project.

Simmons framed the mix of work as economic development and safety measures: "It's gonna be an economic development opportunity in and for the Washington County Greenville and Delta area. And it's also a safety issue because we are taking trucks ... out of a community," he said.

Provenance: Project descriptions and contractor names are discussed across the show's middle segments; the first on-record project remarks begin at 228.625 seconds and the segment describing Jackson-region work continues through roughly 625.42 seconds.