Gresham Smith is proud to announce that with its support the Mississippi Department of Transportation was awarded a $71.68 million grant for the construction of a new freight corridor in Washington County.
The Infrastructure for Rebuilding America (INFRA) grant was awarded to MDOT for the construction of US 82 along 15.6 miles of new controlled access four-lane highway alignment. The US 82 corridor runs west-east through the central part of Mississippi. It’s the only corridor that provides a direct connection between the Mississippi River and the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway.
The existing US 82 corridor through Greenville currently experiences annual average daily traffic counts as high as 20,000 vehicles per day and contains 12 signalized intersections that lead to increased travel times for traffic. The construction of this bypass will allow through-traffic to travel more efficiently and will incorporate safety countermeasures throughout the new facility.
“We’re proud to support MDOT in this critical work that will help generate further economic growth in the Mississippi Delta region,” said Randy Battey, P.E., state transportation leader for Mississippi at Gresham Smith. “Gresham Smith has a long history of helping our clients identify and obtain funding for transportation projects throughout the Southeast.”
Gresham Smith supported MDOT by providing project management services, research, application development, a cost-benefit analysis and a project website. The firm also helped MDOT obtain letters of support and manage other stakeholder comments.
Over the last few years, Gresham Smith has been successful in helping MDOT secure a number of discretionary federal grants, including a $52.4 million grant in 2019 for the construction of SR 76 in Itawamba County and a $25 million grant in 2018 for improvements to SR 19 in Neshoba County.