MADISON COUNTY will soon have smoother, safer and wider roads, according to the Mississippi Department of Transportation’s 2008-2011 Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP).

The four-year plan includes more than $300 million in roadway projects that will be funded through state, federal and local funds, said MDOT District Five Engineer Ricky May.

District Five is made up of 10 Central Mississippi counties, including Hinds, Madison, Rankin, Leake, Scott, Neshoba, Newton, Noxubee, Kemper and Lauderdale.

Six state-sponsored projects have been named in the STIP, including two in south Madison County. Those include a $36 million project to reconstruct the Gluckstadt Interchange at I-55 and a $49.9 million project to add four lanes to I-55 from County Line Road to Old Agency Road.

MDOT is also working to retire a $42.2 million bond debt service spent for the construction of an interchange connecting Old Agency Road to Mississippi 463 and Highland Colony Parkway.

Other projects in the county include one for $55 million to add two lanes to Mississippi 43 from I-55 to Mississippi 22. Engineers are now working on the environmental study for that project.

The state is also spending $2.5 million to pave Mississippi 22 from Edwards to Canton, and another $23 million to pave four lanes at the U.S. 51 and Mississippi 463 connector in Canton.

According to the STIP, Madison County is expected to begin preliminary work in 2009 on the $41 million interchange at I-55 and Reunion Parkway.

RIDGELAND AND Madison municipal projects are also outlined in the STIP. In Madison, city officials plan to spend $9.7 million to widen a 1.07-mile stretch of Hoy Road from Old Canton to Bradford Place.

Another $12 million will be spent to widen a 2.05-mile stretch of Hoy Road from Old Canton to N. Old Canton. MDOT records show the project will continue through 2011.

Public Works Director Denson Robinson said the city is still in the early stages of that project. “The board voted to hire the Neel-Shaffer engineering firm,” he said. “We recently met with them and told them what we wanted to do and are now preparing a contract.”

In the first phase of the project, the city will four-lane Hoy to Rice Road. In the second, crews will three-lane the thoroughfare from Rice Road to N. Old Canton. “This project will help us accommodate growth,” he said. “There’s been a tremendous increase in traffic in the area.”

The city will soon get started on another widening project to deal with traffic volume. Robinson said Madison has hired Hemphill Construction to widen a 1.45-mile stretch of Old Canton from the Natchez Trace Parkway to Calumet Drive near Bruce Campbell Field.

“The traffic effect will be minimal,” he said. “We’re building two lanes east of the current road. When we get through with that, we’ll move traffic to the new road and rebuild it.” The only traffic tie-ups, he said, will come when crews begin tying in the two sides of the roadway.

MDOT records show that project is being funded, in part, by federal and state funds. The federal government, according to the STIP, is contributing roughly $2.5 million for the project.

Madison is also installing new traffic signals at two busy intersections, including Old Canton at Main Street and Madison Avenue at Rice Road. Both projects are being paid for with federal funds and through a grant from the Central Mississippi Planning and Development District (CMPDD).

IN RIDGELAND, the city is going to spend $10 million to extend Lake Harbour Drive from U.S. 51 to Highland Colony Parkway. The project, which is now in the engineering stages, involves creating a flyover bridge at I-55 to connect the two heavily traveled roadways.

New signals will also be installed at the intersections of Ridgewood Road and Centre Street and at Pear Orchard Road and Rice Road. According to MDOT records, those projects will cost a total of $756,000. Federal funds will pay for the lion’s share of both projects.