TUPELO, MS — The Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT) recently began construction on a new four-lane segment of State Route 76 in Itawamba County. The project is a nearly nine-mile extension of SR 76 from SR 23 to SR 25. Crews began clearing right-of-way on Martin Road, about a half mile north of Fairview Banner Road.

SR 76 forms a part of the Appalachian Development Highway System (ADHS) in Mississippi. The project will complete the final portion of ADHS Corridor V, which runs from Interstate 55 in Batesville to Interstate 24 in Chattanooga, Tennessee, connecting intermodal facilities in the three states, including the Port of Huntsville and the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway.

Currently, a 2.5-mile four-lane section of Corridor V stretches into Mississippi from Alabama. Freight traffic along Corridor V currently has to use a 13-mile section of two-lane SR 23 when traveling from Interstate 22 to Alabama. The new highway will cut four miles off the trip.

“MDOT’s No. 1 priority is the safe and efficient movement of goods and people,” said MDOT Executive Director Melinda McGrath, PE. “This final phase of Corridor V will take freight traffic off two-lane highways and move it to four-lane highways specifically designed for this purpose.”

The $81-million project was funded in part by a $52.4-million Infrastructure for Rebuilding America grant. The contract was awarded in March to Eutaw Construction Company, Inc., of Aberdeen. Work is expected to be completed by the end of 2023.