December 11, 2023
A capital improvement project led by Starkville Utilities will affect traffic on a portion of Old West Point Road from Dec. 14 through mid-January as crews upgrade water lines and complete overlay prep work for the next paving season.
"This is another phase in our continuing efforts to improve water system reliability and capacity to serve Starkville's current and future needs," said Edward Kemp, general manager, Starkville Utilities. "We're taking a proactive, data-driven approach to capital improvements, with an end goal of providing residents with resilient infrastructure both underground and on our roadways."
The upgrade project also includes parts of Chapin and Broad streets; however, those segments will be performed after the Old West Point Road utility installation and will involve minimal traffic impacts.
Customers in upgrade areas will lose water service temporarily as their meters are changed over to the new water main after testing and will be contacted individually about temporary outages, which should last no more than four hours.
On Thursday and Friday, Dec. 14 and 15, both lanes of Old West Point Road from Highway 182 to Broad Street will be closed during working hours. Southbound traffic will detour through Broad Street, and businesses and residents within the work area will be given access as needed. Old West Point Road will be open overnight and outside of work hours.
Starting Dec. 18, the southbound lane of Old West Point Road will be closed for the duration of the upgrade project. Southbound traffic will detour through Broad Street, and Chapin Street and Old West Point Road residents and businesses within the work area will be given access from the northbound lane as needed.
Both lanes should be open on weekends and days that crews aren't working. Engineers expect the project to wrap up in mid-January.
Crews are replacing old, degraded, redundant water lines with a larger, single line that will increase reliability as well as system capacity to accommodate future growth. This work is not only replacing end-of-life infrastructure but also preparing the Old West Point Road segment for roadway paving in 2024.
"Project engineers did their best to minimize traffic disruptions while prioritizing the safety of crews along the work route," Kemp said. "Once the upgrade is complete, customers in the area will be served by a modern, reliable water system for many years to come. The city's ongoing infrastructure investments are also investments in the future."
Starkville Utilities is a public utility serving 14,000 residences, businesses and industries in Starkville, Mississippi as well as Mississippi State University. Its mission is to supply safe, reliable, and cost-effective electric and water service of superior quality and value that improves the lives of its customers.