Airport Parkway (Jackson, Mississippi, metropolitan area)

The Airport Parkway is a major highway development project in the Jackson, Mississippi, metropolitan area planned to connect Interstate 55 on the west, High Street in downtown Jackson, Mississippi Highway 25 (Lakeland Drive), and Mississippi Highway 475 (Airport Road) in Flowood at Jackson-Evers International Airport in the east. [http://www.environment.fhwa.dot.gov/strmlng/casestudies/ms.asp Airport Parkway and MS 25 Connectors Project] , United States Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration website, accessed August 9, 2008]

The convert|12|mi|km|adj=on project [http://www.theairportparkway.com/ Airport Parkway Project] , Mississippi Department of Transportation, accessed August 10, 2008] includes a new crossing of the Pearl River. The entire road is planned to be operated as a toll road. As of 2008, it was expected to open in 2012.

The Airport Parkway Commission that was formed in 1995 to help advance the project consists of the mayors of Pearl, Flowood, and Jackson, the three cities through which the Airport Parkway would run. The U.S. Congress allocated $35 million for the project. The environmental impact statement was completed in 1999. Right-of-way acquisition for the portion of the project in Rankin County (about 40% of the total right-of-way requirement) was completed at a cost of $15 million. As of December 2007, the total cost to complete the project was estimated at about $400 million.Adam Lynch, [http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/index.php/site/comments/airport_commission_under_axe/ Airport Commission Under Axe?] , "Jackson Free Press", December 5, 2007]

References