All across the Golden Triangle, crews have been hard at work developing new parks, repaving new roads and constructing new buildings.
Starkville/Oktibbeha
Road work has been a way of life in Starkville as the Highway 182 revitalization project continues to make progress with about a third of the mile-long project complete. The project, which begins near Long Street and goes up the west side of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., is projected for completion in 2028.
Downtown, the $7.5 million Main Street Revitalization project, which began construction in July, is on pace to be completed by the end of 2026. The project will be moving closer to City Hall in November when phase 3 of 6 for the project begins. Crews have been tearing up streets and installing new landscaping and electrical work for improved lighting on the downtown street.
Starkville’s McKee Park celebrated its official opening in August after completing more than $7 million of work in July. The park, which was previously four baseball fields, broke ground in September 2024 and now houses a new playground, splash pad, dog park, additional parking and new pedestrian pathways.
Starkville also received an $8 million Safe Streets for All grant in July that will be put towards a new roundabout for Highway 12 near Garrett Road. The project should begin construction in 2026 and is projected to be completed by 2028.
Oktibbeha finalized the $55 million sale of OCH Regional Medical Center in September to Baptist Memorial Healthcare. The sale agreement also outlined $96 million of investments that Baptist will be responsible for implementing in the hospital over the next five years which includes maintenance, recruitment and infrastructure improvements.
The county finished a $1.5 million replacement of the Morgantown Bridge in August, which had previously been closed for two years due to age and structural issues. The county also replaced the Old West Point Sturgis Road bridge which began construction earlier this Spring and reopened in July.
Oktibbeha also completed a $2.4 million repaving project in July of about 10 miles of Sturgis Maben Road.
Columbus/Lowndes
Columbus has continued to chip away at drainage infrastructure with about $6 million in ARPA funds addressing flooding issues in Wards 1, 4 and 5. The projects include ditch and box culvert clearing, replacing some drains and erosion control in ditches. Crews have nearly wrapped up a box culvert and pipe replacement The city is close to wrapping up the first of 10 sites, which are projected to be completed by May 2026.
The city began $1.8 million in Fifth Street North improvements in October, which will include narrowing lanes, new lighting, a new signal at Fifth Avenue North and Fifth Street North and adding sidewalks and bike lanes.
The nearly decade-long redevelopment effort in Burns Bottom is projected to complete roughly $5.2 million worth of initial infrastructure improvements by 2026. Friendly City Development, after entering into a $800,000 deal with the city’s redevelopment board in August, began selling the first batch of 28-lots in September to be turned into single-family homes which could begin construction as early as the end of 2026.
Near the end of this year, the city is also looking to bid out a replacement for Waterworks Road’s Luxapallila Creek Bridge which is estiestimated to cost about $4 million and is projected to begin construction in 2026 with completion estimated near the end of 2026 to early 2027. Traffic will be rerouted during construction around Highway 182.
Also beginning next year is about $3 million in repaving efforts that will include streets across the city as well as a number of parking lots in need of improvements. The effort is expected to be completed in 2026.
The Terry Brown Amphitheater is awaiting final funding and grant decisions to be decided for improvements and finalization of the facility but construction is anticipated to begin and be completed in 2026.
In September, Mayor Stephen Jones broke a deadlocked city council vote to spend $1 million in internet use tax revenues on facilities upgrades. The largest component of that spending plan is a new $750,000 roof on the Municipal Complex, which has been plagued with leaks over the past several years.
Rural King farm and home store opened in September at the old K-Mart building along Highway 45 North. The store is Rural King’s first in Mississippi and brought with it about 70 new jobs to the city.
The Columbus-Lowndes County Airport’s runway completed a $1.8 million repainting in March. Just about a month later in April the airport also completed construction of a $1.2 million box hangar to begin to field tenants and increase capacity at the site. The airport has a number of ongoing and future projects which include a new weather system projected to be completed by 2026 and a new open hangar to increase capacity at the airport, which is projected to be completed by the spring of 2027.
Out in Lowndes County the Cinco Megasite was celebrated as the fifth TVA-certified Megasite in the region and was awarded a $5.5 million grant from the state for a million-gallon water tower in May to go along with $25 million in bonds awarded by the Board of Supervisors in February.
West Point/Clay
West Point has plans to repave about $1.2 million in city and neighborhood streets to continue to build on about $8.8 million in repaving the city has done over the last three years. The city will begin addressing 22 roads starting in October.
Down Highway 45 South, West Point has been working since May on installing a new sewer line to increase capacity around the southside of the city limits. The line will filter to the city’s main plant and will increase capacity for the city’s sewage system. The $3 million project is projected to be completed by sometime in late winter this year.
Macon/Noxubee
In Noxubee County there has been continued work on the county’s new $2 million emergency operations center; some structural concerns delayed the project until early 2026. The location for the center will be by the current center in Macon city center on Washington Street. The intent is for the building to be a safer and more modern center for the county.
Huber Engineered Woods has continued construction of the organization’s newest wood mill near Shuqualak. The project continues toward a completion date in 2026. The project is projected to bring about 150 new jobs for positions in logging, hauling and hospitality.
The county also has a lot of bridge work set to begin including a bridge repair on Lynn Creek Road, which should be complete sometime near the end of October to early November.
A $350,000 bridge out on Mickens Clay Road is projected to begin construction sometime in December and is estimated to be complete sometime between March and May of next year.
The county is also looking to perform $1.2 million of road resealing which will cover about 10 miles of roads.
STORY BY BRADEN SIMMONS
PHOTOS BY DEANNA ROBINSON