The Mississippi Department of Transportation recently made changes to a deadly intersection along U.S. 98 in West Hattiesburg. Flexible delineators were added along the intersection at Barracuda Drive to redirect the flow of traffic in hopes of reducing collisions and preventing fatalities.
“As the area starts to build, MDOT has to make traffic changes,” District Engineer Kelly Castleberry said. “The delineators are being used to guide traffic in the proper way to go through the intersection.”
In October 2014, Dr. Darrell Burnham, who was an anesthesiologist at Hattiesburg Clinic, died from severe injuries he sustained during a traffic accident at the intersection.
“We hope that this reduces all accidents at that intersection,” said Castleberry. “It does reduce conflict points, and anytime you reduce conflict points, you reduce accidents.”
MDOT had been receiving calls for a few years from several people in the community – many from the businesses and members of the church near the intersection – about how dangerous the intersection had became.
While many of the callers requested for traffic signal lights to be constructed at Barracuda and U.S. 98, the intersection did not meet all of the requirements for signalization.
“Accidents alone are not the deciding factor,” said Castleberry. “There are several warrants that have to be met.”
Based on the growing demand of area motorist, including the recent fatality, and a study by the MDOT, Castleberry said the department came up with re-directing the flow of traffic as the best alternative to make the area safer.
The delineators allow westbound traffic to cross over from U.S. 98 to the Woodstone subdivision. The new guides, however, prevent Eastbound traffic from entering the intersection and crossing over to Barracuda Drive, where Heritage United Methodist Church.
It also prevents crossing from all four lanes or multiple cars going in different directions from crowding the intersection at the same time.
“It’s been a dangerous intersection for a long time,” said Tommy Artmann, pastor of Heritage First United Methodist Church.
The church is right at the corner of U.S. 98 and Barracuda Drive, and Artmann’s office is facing the intersection.
“The have been scores of wrecks there,” said Artmann. “We’ve had on average about one wreck a month there for the past 10 years.”
Artmann said that a few members of the church, including his own daughter and the church secretary, have been involved in collisions at the intersection.
“It got really confusing out there,” he said. “There would be five cars in the intersection pointing in different direction. When you have a crossover like that there’s a higher likely of accidents.”
The church has had many concerns over the safety of the intersection, especially since it houses a preschool and many parents used the crossover to drop off and pick up their children.
“We applaud (MDOT’s) effort to try to make it safer,” said Artmann. “I understand it is probably a little awkward, but I think it’s safer. I don’t want anyone else to get hurt. A little inconvenience on our part is a small price to pay for saving someone’s life or from being injured.”
MDOT added the delineators during the first week of the new year, and Castleberry said that it usually takes motorists a trial period of about 28 days to get used to a change in the flow of traffic. After that timeframe is up, MDOT will monitor the intersection and see if any adjustments to the intersection are needed.
