The Central Mississippi Planning and Development District (CMPDD) announced the Jackson Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) approved $32.7 million in Federal Surface Transportation Block Grant (STBG) funding for metro-area transportation projects aimed at reducing congestion and improving the safety and efficiency of the regional transportation system. The STBG program is a federal-aid transportation program that provides funding through the MPO to local municipalities and counties for transportation improvements in the urbanized area.
“Funding approved today represents smart investments in community based projects that will improve mobility and provide for new economic development opportunities in the metro-area,” said Brandon Mayor Butch Lee, Chairman of the MPO Policy Committee.
Funding for these projects is available through the MPO as part of the 2015 Transportation Bill, Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act.
This year, the MPO focused on providing funding to projects that can be completed in a relatively short timeframe, and that address safety, pavement condition, and congestion concerns.
“One important thing to note is this process is one step further toward implementation of a federally required Regional Transportation Plan. Each project selected represents only a small piece of a much larger long-term transportation plan,” according to Mike Monk, CEO of CMPDD.
In total, the CMPDD received fifty-one (51) applications requesting more than $67 million in funding. However, the MPO only has enough funds available to fund the top thirty-one (31) rated projects. Combined, cities and counties receiving the $32.7 million in transportation funding have committed to provide over $11.2 million in local matching funds.
Projects selected for funding such as resurfacing Terry Road and installing upgraded traffic signals along Highway 80 should be completed in a relatively short timeframe (1 to 2 years) while other projects such as constructing Gunter Road Extension and replacing the Mill Street Bridge will take a lengthier timeframe to complete.
Local jurisdictions submitted applications to CMPDD back in October 2018. The applications were then graded and evaluated based on the proposed project type (bridge repair, safety, congestion mitigation, pavement management, or small municipality). The scoring criteria for each project type varies slightly, but in general projects were rated based on:
- Whether or not the project provided more than the minimum required local matching funds.
- What percentage of the total funds available did the project request? Projects requesting the least amount of Federal funding received priority.
- Whether or not the project is ready to go to construction. Projects ready to proceed to construction were given priority over projects that may still have design work and/or utility and right-of-way factors to address.
- In addition, projects were evaluated on elements specific to each project category such as pavement condition, daily traffic volume, bridge ratings, or travel time delays.
Projects rating the highest in each category were selected by the MPO Policy Committee to receive Federal STBG grant funding by the Jackson MPO. For more information regarding the MPO transportation planning process or for a map highlighting the projects selected for funding visit the MPO website by clicking the thumbnail below:
Projects selected for STBG funding by the MPO include:
|
Entity |
Project |
Federal STBG Funding |
|
Brandon |
Traffic signal upgrades Hwy 80 at Eastgate Drive and Municipal Drive |
$500,000 |
|
Brandon |
New traffic signal Hwy 18 at Louis Wilson Drive with intersection improvements |
$600,000 |
|
Brandon |
Burnham Road mill and overlay city limits to Old Brandon Road |
$250,000 |
|
Brandon |
Shiloh Road mill and overlay Louis Wilson Drive to Shiloh Parkway |
$125,000 |
|
Clinton |
Midway Road Bridge Replacement |
$387,717 |
|
Clinton |
Kickapoo Road Bridge Replacement |
$336,422 |
|
Flora |
Kearney Park Road mill and overlay SE Clark Street to town limits |
$498,634 |
|
Florence |
New traffic signal Hwy 49 at Crosspark Drive |
$487,550 |
|
Jackson |
Mill street Town Creek Bridge Replacement |
$1,125,000 |
|
Jackson |
Terry Road Cany Creek Bridge Replacement |
$2,025,000 |
|
Jackson |
Traffic signal upgrades Woodrow Wilson & Medgar Evers Blvd. 5 points |
$354,198 |
|
Jackson |
Traffic signal upgrades State Street at Pearl, Amite, Mississippi, and High Streets |
$503,082 |
|
Jackson |
Traffic signal upgrades State Street at Rankin, South, Court, Tombigbee, and Pascagoula Streets |
$658,968 |
|
Jackson |
Traffic signal upgrades Woodrow Wilson Ave. at Bailey Ave. and Bailey Ext. |
$517,872 |
|
Jackson |
Terry Road mill and overlay I-20 to McDowell Road |
$1,836,857 |
|
Jackson |
Woodrow Wilson Ave. mill and overlay Mill Street to Martin Luther King Jr. Drive |
$3,674,734 |
|
Jackson |
Meadowbrook Road mill and overlay I-55 to West/Northbrook Drive |
$2,669,746 |
|
Jackson |
State Street mill and overlay Sheppard to Briarwood Drive |
$1,583,723 |
|
Madison County |
Catlett Road widening, realignment, and intersection improvements Red Fox Road to Stribling Road Ext. |
$2,591,971 |
|
Madison County |
New traffic signal Hwy 22 at King Ranch Road with intersection improvements |
$362,953 |
|
Pearl |
Traffic signal upgrades Hwy 80 at Belvedere Drive and Cross Park Drive |
$320,000 |
|
Pearl |
Old Whitfield Road mill and overlay Hwy 468 to Hwy 475 |
$1,000,000 |
|
Pearl |
Pearl Richland Intermodal Connector Phase 1 widening South Pearson Road from Richland Creek to Hwy 468 |
$2,000,000 |
|
Pearl River Valley |
Lower Spillway Road mill and overlay Breakers Lane to old Rapids entrance |
$1,480,000 |
|
Rankin County |
Spillway Road mill and overlay Grants Ferry Road to Hwy 471 |
$389,375 |
|
Rankin County |
Gunter Road Extension new two-lane roadway to extend Gunter Road from Hwy 49 to Florence-Byram Road |
$3,001,500 |
|
Ridgeland |
New traffic signal Highland Colony Parkway at Renaissance Driveway #3 |
$466,000 |
|
Ridgeland |
New traffic signal Highland Colony Parkway at Renaissance Driveway #4 |
$460,000 |
|
Ridgeland |
New traffic signal Highland Colony Parkway at Lake Harbour Drive |
$425,000 |
|
Ridgeland |
Traffic signal upgrades Hwy 51 at Lake Harbour Drive with intersection improvements |
$1,070,500 |
|
Ridgeland |
Traffic signal equipment improvements multiple locations citywide |
$954,000 |
