Highway 80 in Clinton to undergo big changes
By Randy Bell
MDOT rendering of expected changes to Highway 80 from Clinton-Raymond Road in the west to near Hannah Drive on the east.
Drivers in Clinton will have to get used to a new way of navigating U.S. Highway 80 once the Mississippi Department of Transportation completes a redesign of the highway to limit left turns off of the highway stretching from Clinton-Raymond Road on the west to Shaw Road on the east.
“Currently, you have a five-lane section on U.S. 80 with a continuous center left-turn lane,” notes Mark Thomas, state safety engineer with MDOT’s Division of Highway Safety.
“When you convert that to a boulevard, you take portions of that two-way left turn lane and put in a concrete median or raised islands, sometimes with landscaping to improve access management on that corridor,” says Thomas.
It means drivers on the 2.8-mile stretch of Highway 80 would able to turn left only at signalized intersections and certain median openings, which MDOT says were chosen based on traffic counts, design standards and additional factors. And those pulling out into traffic from parking lots would have to turn right—even if they want to go left.
“For the majority of locations that are not signalized intersections, the driver will judge the cars that are nearest to them, make a right, then go down [to the next traffic light or a left-turn lane where permitted] and make a U-turn to go back in the direction they may have been trying to travel,” Thomas says.
The goal is fewer vehicles turning across oncoming traffic to reduce the number of crashes.
Thomas says a lot is going through a driver’s mind when they’re trying to cross five lanes of traffic.
Clinton residents examine MDOT’s plans for the Clinton portions of Highway 80 at the Olde Towne Depot last month.
“Even if you’re just trying to go out [of a parking lot] and make a left, you’re having to evaluate the two lanes closest to you, if anybody is in the turn lane and then, obviously, [having to] evaluate the traffic that’s coming in the lanes you want to be in,” he says. “What we’re trying to do in its simplest form is to minimize the decisions people have to make.”
MDOT officials say that what they plan to do in Clinton is already working in Starkville. A similar redesign of State Highway 12 that began with a safety analysis in 2015 has paid off in an “incredibly beneficial” way, according to Starkville Mayor Lynn Spruill.
Spruill admits there was some initial pushback from businesses concerned that the traffic restrictions might be a burden for their customers.
“I still get grumbling, but I don’t believe it took [the businesses] too long to recover from the changes, once their customers got used to the new routing,” she says.
Spruill says the impact on safety is undeniable.
“Our traffic accidents have decreased significantly, approximately thirty percent,” Spruill reports. “Those stats alone make it a positive change.”
She also says irrigating the median allowed for landscaping to be installed, “so that we could beautify the stretch of highway.”
That’s the look that Clinton Mayor Phil Fisher wants along Highway 80.
“We don’t want to have the concrete in the middle,” Fisher says. “We want to go with more of a ‘parkway’ look.’ I think it’s going to be a real beautiful asset to the city. Right now, Highway 80 looks like a road between two truck stops. This is going to turn it into something for people to enjoy.”
Fisher is hoping Clinton sees the same kind of reduction in traffic accidents that Starkville has.
“Taking out that ‘I-dare-you lane’ in the middle and the additional safety that brings is a lot [better] than set up like it is now.”
He says when the boulevard idea was first proposed about five years ago, business owners who were asked for their input didn’t voice any objections. The mayor believes customers will make the necessary adjustments.
“If you want to go to a particular store, you’re going to find a way to get there,” he says.
Area residents had the opportunity to take a look at MDOT’s plans for the Clinton portions of Highway 80 at a recent meeting and display at the Olde Towne Depot.
Thomas, the MDOT official, points to national studies showing little lasting impact on businesses located along highways undergoing such changes.
“Strong businesses that were there before these kinds of projects come in are there afterwards,” Thomas says. “I’ve seen that personally in Starkville.”
Mississippi College Chief Financial Officer Laura Jackson says she is happy that the preliminary concept for the Highway 80 project includes two roundabouts at the entrances to the new mixed-use development that’s being built across the highway from the campus.
“Our goal was to try to make sure that we could get pedestrians across Highway 80 safely and that we could slow the traffic down in that area,” Jackson says. “Well, the best way to accomplish slowing the traffic down is roundabouts. MDOT and all statistics that you can read will show you that high-impact collisions are less likely with roundabouts than they are with intersections.”
The pace of progress with the development currently known as the 80/20 Project will help dictate the timing of the work on Highway 80.
“I said from the very first meeting with [MDOT], when we started this conversation, what I don’t need is for us to have businesses that open, three, four years down the road and all of a sudden, a year later, you tear up Highway 80 in front of it,” Jackson recalls. “That’s not going to work.” But she says MDOT understands. “They’re very in tune to making sure that our project timelines somewhat align.”
The public was given an opportunity to get a look at the initial concept for the highway redesign at a meeting MDOT hosted at the Clinton Train Depot in early April.
Real estate agent Cindy Robertson attended the meeting and said a new-look for Highway 80 would be “progress” for Clinton.
“Personally, I like a turn lane,” says Robertson. “But I understand that turn lanes are hard as we grow as a city. I love the fact that we would put the green in and plant shrubbery. It would give the city a nicer look.”
Jeff Altman, an engineer manager for Neel-Schaffer, which is designing the project, says it’s currently in Phase A.
“Really, what you’re doing is just trying to get the overall scope of the project, doing public meetings and getting that input. Then, when we move into the next phase—which would be Phase B—that would be the actual design of the contract.”
Altman says they hope to be at that point this summer.
“Our schedule would take us through probably the end of the year, maybe the first of 2025 finishing this up,” Altman says. “And then, it would be up to MDOT.”
2024-04-09 – US 80 Project Layout 1
2024-04-09 – US 80 Project Layout 2
