VIDEO: Major Traffic Improvements Are Underway In The Friendly City

COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI)- Driving throughout Columbus may soon become a little smoother.

Last Tuesday, city leaders approved for more than a dozen traffic signal improvements to help ease the traffic flow.

Waiting on the red light to turn green on College Street and 11th Street South can feel like forever, just ask Sam Murphree, he lives near that intersection.

“Yeah that light does take a long time, but again you have a lot of that dump truck traffic coming up from the south side,” said Murphree, who’s lived in Columbus for three decades.

The longtime resident said he’d also like to see changes made at the intersection on Gardner Boulevard and Highway 50.

“That’s a busy intersection and just to have nothing, I mean you’re taking your life in your hands when you try to pull out on the road there,” Murphree expressed.

Now, changes are coming to both of those intersections, along with several others in the city.

It’s been just over a decade since any changes have been made to the traffic signals in Columbus.

“Regulations really haven’t changed over the last 10 years, however traffic patterns have, technology has, so signals and controllers, LED signals, energy-efficient things have come along that we are taking advantage of,” said Kevin Stafford, the city engineer.

After doing an evaluation on all of the city owned traffic signals, Stafford discovered four of the signals needed to come down.

“Two of them are on College Street at 6th Street and 15th, and one is at 7th Street and 2nd Avenue North,” said Stafford. “The third is at Martin Luther King and Bell Avenue, all four intersections will go to an all way stop.”

Meanwhile, the intersections at Bluecutt Road and Leigh Drive, Military Road and Ridge Road, and Garnder Boulevard and Highway 50, will have traffic signals implemented.

“What we are doing with the four signals coming down, we are going to reuse some of that equipment to go up at two of those three new intersections, Stafford explained. “Then the Bluecutt and Leigh Drive, because it’s so large we don’t have the equipment there, it’s going to be a total new design, new equipment installation.”

Stafford said Columbus Light and Water will upgrade controllers and signal heads at eight intersections to change the timing on the lights.

Overall, 19 intersections will receive immediate upgrades.

Stafford believes these changes are something residents and drivers will appreciate.

“Changing the timing only helps the efficiency of the intersection flow which again increases the level of service you can provide to the traveling public,” the city engineer said.

The four intersections that will soon become a four way stop currently have blinking red lights to help drivers adjust to the change.

Stafford is working with the Mississippi Department of Transportation on possible changes at three additional roads on main street.