Mississippi

[US71]

So 51 now follows I-55 through Jackson to the County Line Road exit?

Yes. I can't find the photo, but there is signage (though not great signage) where 51 joins 55 north of town.

It's been 3 years since I've been 51. I need to make another trip

[golden eagle]

So 51 now follows I-55 through Jackson to the County Line Road exit?

Yes. I can't find the photo, but there is signage (though not great signage) where 51 joins 55 north of town.

It's been 3 years since I've been 51. I need to make another trip

But the signage "disappears". The overhead gantries for State Street from I-20/55 has US 51 on it, but there is no signage on State Street. In fact, there is no signage until you emerge from under the I-55 overpass in Ridgeland.

[US71]

But the signage "disappears". The overhead gantries for State Street from I-20/55 has US 51 on it, but there is no signage on State Street. In fact, there is no signage until you emerge from under the I-55 overpass in Ridgeland.

Yes, that's true. There is signage showing 51 joining 55 but if you blink, you miss it. How long has 49 been rerouted down 220-55-20? I don't think its junction is well marked either. I think US 80 is the only US Route that hasn't been stuck on an Interstate...at least in the Jackson area.

[UptownRoadGeek]

I think that US 49 is marked pretty well. It's on most if not all BGSs between the interchange with I-220 all the way around to the I-20/I-55 split.

[froggie]

US 49's fairly well marked on overhead guide signs.  Probably because it's had that routing for over 20 years (ca. 1987) and is also a major route on both sides of Jackson.

US 51 is weird.  On MDOT's state-designated/state-maintained map, updated as of July, they still show the short freeway spur up to State St as US 51.  I had also asked some years ago about US 51 and got a complete run-around from the same individual.  My conclusion based on that mess is that MDOT considers BOTH the freeway spur up to State St *AND* the I-55 routing as part of US 51.

[golden eagle]

But the signage "disappears". The overhead gantries for State Street from I-20/55 has US 51 on it, but there is no signage on State Street. In fact, there is no signage until you emerge from under the I-55 overpass in Ridgeland.

Yes, that's true. There is signage showing 51 joining 55 but if you blink, you miss it. How long has 49 been rerouted down 220-55-20? I don't think its junction is well marked either. I think US 80 is the only US Route that hasn't been stuck on an Interstate...at least in the Jackson area.

To be technical, 80 is multiplexed with I-20 through the western half of Clinton. Once it separates, 80 has it all to itself until Meridian. There is a significant amount of traffic that travels on 80 through Jackson and especially through Pearl and Brandon, so my guess is that decommissioning  and multiplexing it with I-20 wasn't necessary. If my guess is wrong, then I'll stand corrected.

[US71]

To be technical, 80 is multiplexed with I-20 through the western half of Clinton. Once it separates, 80 has it all to itself until Meridian. There is a significant amount of traffic that travels on 80 through Jackson and especially through Pearl and Brandon, so my guess is that decommissioning  and multiplexing it with I-20 wasn't necessary. If my guess is wrong, then I'll stand corrected.

I know about Clinton, which is why I said "Jackson area"

Now old 80 west of Clinton has some interesting bridges 

[cbalducc]

I remember when US 49 went down Delta Drive (now Medgar Evers Boulevard) and turned east onto Woodrow Wilson by the old Jackson Mall.  I'm not sure if it then went south on State Street (old US 51) on stayed on WW until it interchange with I-55.  I think WW from State to I-55 was built after World War II.  At one time, US 51 used it from I-55 to State before going south.  God bless.

[froggie]

Woodrow Wilson east of State was built in the late '50s along with I-55 through North Jackson...the southern end of the I-55 construction was at the Woodrow Wilson interchange for many years.  US 49 turned south on State St with US 51 until ca. 1970 when I-55 around downtown Jackson and through "the Stack" (the eastern I-20/I-55/US 49 interchange) was completed.  This is the same year US 49 moved off its duplex with US 80 and onto its new (now-current) alignment between I-20 and Richland.

[US71]

I remember when US 49 went down Delta Drive (now Medgar Evers Boulevard) and turned east onto Woodrow Wilson by the old Jackson Mall.  I'm not sure if it then went south on State Street (old US 51) on stayed on WW until it interchange with I-55.  I think WW from State to I-55 was built after World War II.  At one time, US 51 used it from I-55 to State before going south.  God bless.

At one time, 49 went south on State to Silas Brown/Old Brandon Road (origininal US 80, i think) across the river, than south. I'm not sure what year that was changed.

[froggie]

Ca. 1938.  That's the year NBI lists as when the US 80 bridge over the Pearl River was built.

[UptownRoadGeek]

Is there a specific reason that the interchange with I-55 at Woodrow Wilson is so large instead of being a normal trumpet, diamond, etc?  That exit as well as the western I-20/I-55 interchange and the exity immediately east of it have always made me scratch my had.  They seem so out of place, antiquated, and hard to replace.

[froggie]

At the time, and for several years afterwards, Woodrow Wilson was carrying US 49 through traffic.  I-220 wasn't built until ca. 1987.

[Grzrd]

On Dec. 15, ten miles of US 84 will tie into the "El Camino Corridor" and complete the 1987 Four-Lane Program:
http://www.gomdot.com/Home/MediaRoom/NewsReleases/PressReleaseDetail.aspx?ID=11282011100804

[rel4]

So 51 now follows I-55 through Jackson to the County Line Road exit?

Yes. I can't find the photo, but there is signage (though not great signage) where 51 joins 55 north of town.

It's been 3 years since I've been 51. I need to make another trip

But the signage "disappears". The overhead gantries for State Street from I-20/55 has US 51 on it, but there is no signage on State Street. In fact, there is no signage until you emerge from under the I-55 overpass in Ridgeland.

As part of the re-signage project, all of the US 51 signs on the State Street exits on I-20 and I-55 were removed. Unfortunately, the one US 51 sign that was correct was also removed. Exit 44 also lost its exit number in the process.

The one sign that shows US 51 Southbound joining I-55 Southbound can be viewed from Google Streetview.

[rel4]

To be technical, 80 is multiplexed with I-20 through the western half of Clinton. Once it separates, 80 has it all to itself until Meridian. There is a significant amount of traffic that travels on 80 through Jackson and especially through Pearl and Brandon, so my guess is that decommissioning  and multiplexing it with I-20 wasn't necessary. If my guess is wrong, then I'll stand corrected.

I've had to so some research on all of this as part of my work duties.  Here is what I've found:

I-20 from Clinton (Exit 35) to Bovina (Exit 11) was originally built as the "new" US 80 in the 1950's.  The posted overpasses at Bovina (Exit 11) and Edwards (Exit 19) are a part of the road's pre-interstate era.  MDOT turned the old US 80 over to Hinds County and Warren County.  Later on, those sections of new US 80 were widen/rebuilt to interstate standards to carry I-20.  I-20 east of Exit 35 was built on a new alignment as a purpose-built interstate highway. The same is true for US 80/I-20 from Clay St (Exit 4 A-B) to Washington St (Exit 1A). Old US 80 from Exit 4 to west of Exit 11 is still on the legislative designated state highway system as MS 822.  MDOT recently added MS 822 trailblazers next to the incorrect US 80 trailblazers on this section.

I-55 from near the Hinds/Copiah County Line to I-20 (including State Street from I-20 to US 80) and from Woodrow Wilson to US 51 @ Ridgeland was originally built as the new US 51 in the 1950's.  The old roads (State Street north of Woodrow Wilson to the new US 51, Terry Rd from MS 18/Raymond Rd to Cunningham St in Terry, Cunningham St from what is now the East Frontage Rd to Railroad Ave, Railroad Ave from Cunningham St south to the current East Frontage Rd, and old US 51 from the end of the Frontage Rd section to the county line) were all turned over to the local governments (City of Jackson, Town of Terry, Hinds County).  Later on, the new sections of US 51 (except between I-20 and US 80) were rebuilt to meet Interstate standards to carry I-55. Frontage Roads were necessary to access businesses that had opened on the new US 51.  On I-55 north, the exit ramps were tied into the two way frontage roads.  This was all converted to Texas style one way frontage roads in the late 80's and early 90's.  I-55 south has not been rebuilt since its conversion from US 51 with the exception of (1) reconstruction of the Byram exit and (2) a permanent median wall after years and years of a temporary wall.  

I-55 between I-20 and Woodrow Wilson was built as a purpose-built Interstate highway.  Since it was a brand new road, there were no businesses and no need for Frontage Roads.  US 51 remained on State Street until the mid 70's, when the city of Jackson and MDOT agreed that the city should control and maintain State Street from the bridge north of US 80 to Woodrow Wilson.  The "spur" leg of US 51 from I-20/55 to US 80 is now basically a glorified on/off ramp.

Once I-55 was completed, US 49 moved from its previous alignment on US 80 and US 51 to I-55 between I-20 and Woodrow Wilson.  In 1987, MDOT and the city agreed to move US 49 to I-20 and I-220 and give the old US 49 to the city. Unlike US 51, MDOT pulled all of the US 49 signs off of the old road and the old alignment on the interstates rather quickly after the turnover.  MDOT did not include the old US 49 as part of MS 149 because it was not bypassed by a new section of US 49 - I guess  .

[rel4]

Is there a specific reason that the interchange with I-55 at Woodrow Wilson is so large instead of being a normal trumpet, diamond, etc?  That exit as well as the western I-20/I-55 interchange and the exity immediately east of it have always made me scratch my had.  They seem so out of place, antiquated, and hard to replace.

I suppose I-55 and US 49 was built as a directional interchange because it was a major junction at the time.  A diamond or trumpet interchange would have had a major impact on the neighboring Riverside Park (now LeFleur's Bluff State Park).  Plus, there was nothing east of the interchange except the park and the Pearl River.  Access to those areas is provided by nearby MS 25/Lakeland Dr and Highland Dr.  The interchange's two faults are the short merge area on I-55 SB south of the interchange and on Woodrow Wilson at the first signal for the VA Hospital.

The I-20/55 west interchange was built around the existing US 51 and its exit with Gallatin St.  US 51 was not relocated during construction.  If you travelled through the area while the I-20/55 westbound bridge was being rebuilt, you would have noticed an eastbound right exit to Gallatin St.  That ramp was built as a temporary off-ramp to Gallatin St.  The temporary ramp and temporary ramp signal on Gallatin St were removed after State St was reopened under I-20/55 WB.  For as messy as it looks, the interchange works decently for regular commuters except for the right lane drops on I-20 EB east of the I-55 NB merge and on I-55 SB at McDowell Rd.

[UptownRoadGeek]

I suppose I-55 and US 49 was built as a directional interchange because it was a major junction at the time.  A diamond or trumpet interchange would have had a major impact on the neighboring Riverside Park (now LeFleur's Bluff State Park).

I think they still could have fit a trumpet in the same spot that would take up much less space. Of course, I don't know what traffic demands were back then so I can't really say.

as messy as it looks, the interchange works decently for regular commuters except for the right lane drops on I-20 EB east of the I-55 NB merge and on I-55 SB at McDowell Rd.

What bothers me about these interchanges is that they both have, what are now substandard, ramps carrying one direction of the mainline over the rest of the interchange while the other mainline side remains on the ground. Of course, I understand if the interchanges had to be built around a pre-existing one. After looking back at the interchanges on Google, I see that all they really have to do is build a new mainline bridge through the middle of the current interchanges. Shouldn't be as hard as I originally thought to rebuild.

[cbalducc]

At the time, and for several years afterwards, Woodrow Wilson was carrying US 49 through traffic.  I-220 wasn't built until ca. 1987.

Are you sure it was completed at that late of a date?  I remember riding to Jackson in 1984 and taking I-220 from US 49 to I-55.  Admittedly, that is out of the way if you're going to downtown Jackson as I was then with other CYO members, but that's the way our driver/chaperone went!

From all that I have read about US 49, it is currently on its third alignment on the south side of Jackson and US 51 is on its second.  God bless.

[cbalducc]

Until the late 1930s, Clinton Boulevard and West Capitol Street was the route of US 80 in and out of Jackson from the west.

http://g.co/maps/77rsb

This was the original intersection of US 80 and 51:

http://g.co/maps/e7pfy

God bless,

CKB

[froggie]

Are you sure it was completed at that late of a date?  I remember riding to Jackson in 1984 and taking I-220 from US 49 to I-55.  Admittedly, that is out of the way if you're going to downtown Jackson as I was then with other CYO members, but that's the way our driver/chaperone went!

You're correct...I made a mistake.  I-220 was completed in 1981.  US 49 was moved off of Woodrow Wilson and onto I-20/I-220 ca. 1987.

[UptownRoadGeek]

I see that I-20 is being widened east of Jackson. What ever happened to widening of I-55 to the north?

[cbalducc]

Another stretch of Mississippi interstate that was built on a US highway right of way is multiplexed I-20/I-59 through Meridian.  It was originally built in the 1940s as a new route for US 80 known as Tom Bailey Parkway.  The western part of TBP was on a former railroad right-of-way.

This is a portion of the "new" 80 that wasn't buried by the Interstate:

http://g.co/maps/cvtw3

God bless,

CKB

[brownpelican]

I see that I-20 is being widened east of Jackson. What ever happened to widening of I-55 to the north?

How far north? I know they widened it to Madison (Miss. 463).

What happened to widening I-55 South (I-20 to Byram)?

[brownpelican]

Another stretch of Mississippi interstate that was built on a US highway right of way is multiplexed I-20/I-59 through Meridian.  It was originally built in the 1940s as a new route for US 80 known as Tom Bailey Parkway.  The western part of TBP was on a former railroad right-of-way.

This is a portion of the "new" 80 that wasn't buried by the Interstate:

http://g.co/maps/cvtw3

God bless,

CKB

I'm surprised they didn't do Texas-styled frontage roads on I-20/59.