Not that anybody was unsure, but a newspaper story this week and the reaction to it made the mutual loathing between the state Legislature and the Mississippi Department of Transportation crystal clear.
MDOT, its three elected commissioners and the Mississippi Economic Council have said the Republican-led Legislature is underfunding the state’s highway network. An MEC study panel said the state needs to put $350 million more per year into its highways to keep them in good shape.
This runs counter to the GOP’s determination to reduce state spending. Assuredly, MDOT’s relative independence from the turf-conscious Legislature also plays a role. It’s not hard to find a Republican lawmaker who questions whether MDOT really needs more money and whether the agency is thrifty with the funding it already gets.
Now comes a report in the Jackson Clarion Ledger that is notable because MDOT’s executive director, Melinda McGrath, specifically blamed political pressure from the state Senate for plans to build a $2 million frontage road near Lakeland Drive in Flowood, a suburb of Jackson.
McGrath’s target clearly is Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves, who is in charge of the Senate — and who also happens to live in a gated community the frontage road would serve.
Through a spokesman, Reeves said he suggested installing a traffic signal at a Lakeland Drive intersection where a number of accidents had occurred. When MDOT declined to do that, his spokesman said Reeves supported the new road as a safety measure.
McGrath’s public comments worked. On Tuesday, the three MDOT commissioners said they would delay plans for the frontage road while they evaluate the need for it. One of the commissioners, Tom King, said there is no safety issue that justifies building the road.
The $2 million cost of the access road is not the real point of all this. Yes, it’s a lot of money, but it’s not much when you consider that MDOT gets about $1 billion a year in state funding.
It’s also no shock that an influential elected official is throwing some elbows to get money for a project that personally benefits him. That’s par for the course in this state.
What’s even more bothersome about this episode is that MDOT, at the Legislature’s direction, has sunk more than $40 million into Lakeland Drive in recent years. It is one of the busiest roads in the state, but also one of the nicest. How much more improving does it need?
Further, Reeves is the point man for reduced spending by state government. Usually, he sticks to that script. More than once, for example, he has annoyed his peers by killing annual legislation to borrow money for capital improvements.
But if he and others are going to ask the people of Mississippi to do without, then they need to set an example. Seeking $2 million for a state road serving two wealthy subdivisions does not do that, especially when every rural county in Mississippi could use that kind of money for its own highways.
If this road is needed, the city of Flowood should pay for most of it. Not the state.
— Jack Ryan, Enterprise-Journal
