Part of Poor House Road will close Monday

OKTIBBEHA COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI)- It’s the road project Oktibbeha County Supervisor Bricklee Miller has been waiting for.

Starting Monday a portion of Poor House Road will officially be closed for construction.

I took a trip out there to see why the project needed to happen.

Some people call it the roller coaster.

Over the years, the pavement on Poor House Road has gotten worse, and contractors say it comes down to the soil.

“Right now the roadway underneath has expansive soils in it from our testing that we’ve done. And this is a soil that when it’s wet, it expands. And when it dries, it contracts and a flexible payment material on top, of course, on delights, and we have the issues that we have now,” said John Waiver.

The 374 thousand dollar project will completely replace a little over half a mile of road.

“We’re going to do it in 12 segments so that we don’t really impact traffic that badly. And we’re going to go in and dig down about three feet, Put in better material with geogrid underneath, and come back. And then, of course, pave it,” said Waiver.

And to help make sure their work lasts, contractors are using some different techniques.

“Normally road repairs you get at the final product you would get two layers of chip seal, so we’re going to get three layers of chip seals its more reinforcement that will make the roadway much more smoothly,” said Dustin Riggan.

Bricklee Miller says the road needs to be repaired not just for safety but for growth.

“The south side of Starkville is growing the fastest; we’re seeing a lot of economic development, a lot of new neighborhoods going up. And it also is the route that a lot of gameday traffic uses. So It’s a side of town that needs to be developed needs a little attention. I’m so glad that the county’s moving forward to take on these projects,” said Miller.

Miller hopes this project will be just a first step.

“Which takes us to the next step to the project, which is redoing the entire road. The base repairs have to be done Regardless. And so it’s a good first step. So we can move forward to the next project, which is we’re doing all of Poor House Road,” said Miller.

Miller says the project should take about three weeks with the road reopening before the Mississippi State LSU Game.