What If Jackson Had Better, Safer Roads?

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Safer roads that don’t lead to potentially thousands of dollars a year in repairs for drivers could be right around the corner, assuming $7 million in federal funding and additional local dollars come through, according to a Northside Sun report.

City leaders recently submitted a plan to the federal Surface Transportation Program, administered locally by the Central Mississippi Planning & Development District (CMPDD). They’re asking for $7 million that would help cover the nearly $16 million needed to redo seven major thoroughfares in Jackson, the Northside Sun said. The projects include two sections of North State Street, and parts of Woodrow Wilson Avenue, Northside Drive, Pearl Street, Pascagoula Street, and Medgar Evers Boulevard.

Although the federal money would cover a sizable chunk of the construction, city and county officials still need to fund the design and some of the overall project costs, Department of Public Works Traffic Engineer Robert Lee told the Northside Sun. He said the areas are in desperate need of attention.

For example, Lee told the Sun that the Northside Drive project area is “beat up, torn up — even the sidewalks are bad.” The area, lined with the homes of Jackson residents, has seen significant use over the years. It’s peppered with cracks and gaps in some places and heavily stained with engine oil in others.

Jackson’s Roads Are Part of a Larger Issue

This isn’t the first time alarm bells were sounded over the state of Jackson’s roads. A recent report from TRIP, a leading transportation research organization, says that nearly half of the roads in Jackson are in poor condition, while 22 percent of roads across the entire state of Mississippi are structurally deficient.

TRIP’s March report outlines that the substandard state of the area’s roads and bridges has a major impact on Jacksonians’ pocketbooks, costing them nearly $2,000 a year in car repairs. More recently, on Oct. 24 the Clarion-Ledger reported that to-date the city has itself had to pay out more than $170,000 to help cover the cost of these repairs.

Statewide, drivers will spend about $2.25 billion annually on additional vehicle operating costs such as repairs, accelerated vehicle depreciation, tire wear, and increased fuel consumption, according to TRIP.

It’s not just costlier repairs that pose problems for Jacksonians, though. There’s also a real risk that roads that aren’t improved can be very dangerous. The same Oct. 24 article relates one driver's experience being run off the road by a pothole, narrowly avoiding disaster. Then, the police officer reporting to the scene did the same thing.

The danger in this story is not unique. TRIP’s report ranks Mississippi fourth in the nation in safety hazards, with high fatality rates related to things like poor street design, problems with shoulders, and inadequate signage.

Room for Improvement

The city’s bid for federal dollars includes several other projects in addition to the stretch of Northside Drive. Another of the proposed areas is a dual-project restoration of North State Street from Fortification Street to Woodrow Wilson Avenue.

Medgar Evers Boulevard would also receive some much-needed attention. Its leadup to the Woodrow Wilson intersection is worn to the bone. Woodrow Wilson Avenue itself would see more redevelopment where ancient concrete and awkward medians dominate. Some relatively new pavement hasbeen laid outside the G.V. (Sonny) Montgomery VA Medical Center, but even this section could benefit from the major facelift proposed along the corridor from Mill to I-55.

Two other notable roads in the project package sit parallel to one another. Pearl and Pascagoula Streets run through the heart of downtown, near buildings like City Hall and the Mississippi Museum of Art. Much of Pascagoula Street is coated in patchwork solutions, and Pearl doesn’t look much better. Their reconstruction could polish the city’s image.