COLUMBUS — Owners of businesses along Lincoln Road, and other areas, had mixed feelings about construction of a Highway 45 bypass, which likely would mean relocation of their business.
And a local expert, who studies the impact of bypasses on small towns, urged city officials to consider all impacts of a bypass, noting more planning is necessary .
“As long as they don”t just throw me to the wolves and let me starve, (I don”t mind the bypass),” David Scott, owner of Styles by David Scott on Lincoln Road, said, noting he expects assistance in relocating his business, if it”s in the route of the bypass.
“If they have to come through, they can come through,” said Johnny Johnson, owner of J&J Welding Inc., located at 1277 Highway 373. “They need to put something to bypass that new (middle) school (under construction).”
“It”s definitely going to impact the business,” Scott Whitehead, the owner of R&S Antiques and Used Furniture, located at 136 Lincoln Road, said of a bypass. “I hope we don”t (have to relocate); I really hope we don”t.”
MDOT officials stress two bypass routes — each of which begins at Waters Truck and Tractor on East Plymouth Road and ends at the north gate of Columbus Air Force Base on Highway 45 North — are under consideration and a final route has not been chosen.
Because officials are considering two routes, which vary only slightly, it is difficult to predict which businesses or residential properties significantly would be impacted, but preliminary estimates show the bypass relocating 38 or 39 residences, depending on which plan is chosen. Also, up to 12 businesses could be relocated.
“I”m not saying it”s a good or bad idea at this point,” John Poros, director of the Carl Small Town Center, a non-profit organization within the College of Architecture, Art, and Design at Mississippi State University, said of the bypass. “There are some aspects of this that have not really been studied. Is land around the new bypass going to be rezoned and how is it going to be rezoned? Are we going to protect this land around the bypass, so it becomes more of a parkway bypass?
“I think there are all these issues that, at least in the preliminary (bypass) report (released by the Mississippi Department of Transportation), weren”t expounded on,” Poros, who studies the effect of highway bypasses on small towns, continued. “They”re really important issues for the town itself. Although it”s limited access, which is going to help in many ways in terms of businesses already in town and along Highway 45, there”s the question: How does the bypass affect land along those roads? A bypass is not automatically a good or bad thing. It”s a question of how you do it and what do people want to get out of it? Think about land use as part of this study.”
Poros also bemoaned the lack of additional alternatives presented by MDOT, which listed three choices — the two bypass routes or taking no action.
“From the preliminary study that was put out by MDOT, it really just looked at the path of the bypass,” Poros explained “And there really was no other alternative to look at — are there ways to just improve Highway 45? Are there truck routes or roads in back of the commercial strip that could be improved in order to get traffic through town? There might be other solutions out there.”
The project is not expected to be completed until at least 2020. After the route is finalized, preliminary work, including surveys, land acquisition and environmental assessments will begin.
Construction likely will begin within three years, Columbus Mayor Robert Smith earlier said.
The bypass project was initiated in 2003. Copies of the MDOT bypass study can be obtained for review from either City Hall or the Lowndes County Courthouse.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 41 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.