Long-range plans to reshape Interstate 20 through Vicksburg were brought to life by aerial photos and a video presentation, but opinions on the most comprehensive redesign of the highway in nearly 40 years didn’t change during an information-sharing session Tuesday at Vicksburg Convention Center.

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Click here for the environmental report

“This is going to kill everybody,” said Glen Beard, co-owner of Flower Center Nursery Inc., on South Frontage Road.

If traffic on North and South Frontage roads is turned in a single direction, as one alternative shows, property near businesses like Beard’s will be marked for buyouts by state engineers looking to clear the way because traffic loads are estimated to double in another 30 years.

“I can understand progress, but I’m just not for one-way frontage roads,” Beard said.

The two-lane roads north and south of the four-lane interstate have had two-way traffic since they were built. One redesign follows a pattern similar to I-55 north of Jackson, with one-way frontage roads, improved ramps to the main highway and turnaround lanes.

Most who have developed commercial property on the frontage roads prefer continuing two-way traffic.

Though six-laning I-20 has been discussed for many years, the presentation Tuesday did not signal that a timetable for work has been established.

The six-mile stretch of the interstate between the Washington Street/Warrenton Road exit and the U.S. 61 North/Mississippi 27 exit is the focus of reconstruction because few if any of the existing on- and off-ramps or overpasses meet today’s design or safety standards.

Maps presented show a sectioned process over an undetermined period of years that would widen the highway to six lanes, three in each direction, and rebuild overpasses at Halls Ferry Road, Indiana Avenue, Clay Street and Wisconsin Avenue.

An environmental study by Jackson-based Neel-Schaffer Inc. should be in draft form by June 2010, with another public hearing to follow. A final environmental report is expected to be done by October 2010. Traffic would be detoured onto the frontage roads in a single direction during mainline interstate work. Time frames for each section marked for widening will be dictated by federal funding.

“This will be over a billion dollars when it’s all finished,” MDOT Central District Commissioner Dick Hall said.

A flyover ramp will replace a left-handed exit to U.S. 61 South from Halls Ferry Road, while expanded lanes will replace a similarly tricky exit to U.S. 61 North — both doing away with outdated design and garnering little opposition in comments submitted by those in attendance Tuesday.

What happens to the frontage roads once lanes are widened remained the key source of dissent. MDOT will consider a return to two-way traffic in one design, but, in another, traffic would remain westbound on North Frontage Road and eastbound on South Frontage Road. Underpasses would be built just east of Halls Ferry, in front of Big Lots and Cowboy Maloney’s Electric City, and near Porters Chapel Road to link the two roads for the first time. South Frontage Road would be extended over rail tracks near the Outlets at Vicksburg, with new portions of the roadway to be maintained by the city. Access to eastbound lanes from Clay Street and U.S. 80 would be improved via a wider interchange and an extra lane.

In addition to businesses along the frontage roads that date to 1973, residents of subdivisions said their neighborhoods already often make convenient detours, an effect sure to worsen if the state’s reconstruction plans pro-gress as drawn.

“They come through us to get to Halls Ferry,” said Talitha Mosley, referring to John Allen Street. which runs between Halls Ferry and Wisconsin.

Daily traffic counts along the interstate in Vicksburg in 2007, the most recent year available, show about 52,000 vehicles at the highway’s busiest point, between Indiana Avenue and Clay Street. By 2040, MDOT predicts traffic there to swell to 95,850, a count similar to I-55 north of Jackson.

“By far, this is the toughest one yet in nearly 50 years with MDOT and Neel-Schaffer,” said Aubrey Kopf of Jackson-based Neel-Schaffer Inc., in charge of the project’s ongoing study. Vicksburg’s hilly terrain dictated an original design with max speeds only at 50 miles per hour, Kopf said, with the challenge being raising the design standard closer to 60 miles per hour.

“We’re designing this from the outside-in,” Kopf said, referring to the frontage road situation.

Work completed on the interstate in the past five years has included resurfacing, new light fixtures and a cabling system from the river to Clay Street to prevent vehicles from crossing the median. 

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Contact Danny Barrett Jr. at dbarrett@vicksburgpost.com