Jimmy Kemp: North Meridian bypass essential

By By Steve Gillespie / staff writer
March 11, 2002
A North Meridian bypass a project some community leaders have worked toward for nearly 30 years is needed now more than ever, according to Jimmy Kemp.
Kemp, former Meridian mayor and president of his own engineering consulting firm, Kemp Associates, presented a history of the project at a Lauderdale County Council of Governments meeting on Monday.
He urged local government officials to continue to lobby the state to build an east-west bypass linking Marion and Highway 19 North. Kemp's firm prepared a report in 1998 for the town of Marion in support of the bypass.
Bypass needed
Changes over the years that Kemp said strengthen the case for the bypass include Bonita Lakes Mall, the North Hills Street corridor and the Pearl River Resort in Choctaw.
Other developments he pointed to included the expansion of Naval Air Station Meridian, expansion of Meridian Community College and construction of Mississippi State University-Meridian Campus.
Kemp said none of those changes have been evaluated by the Mississippi Department of Transportation since 1991. The longer the project is delayed, he said, the higher land acquisition costs will be.
Central District Transportation Commissioner Dick Hall said last fall that MDOT highway options could include adding extra lanes to Interstate-20/59, relocating the interstate to the south and building a Highway 19 North bypass.
A cost estimate for the bypass was unavailable.
Kemp said he has heard local arguments against the bypass by some who say it will hurt business on North Hills Street. But Kemp said traffic is congested on North Hills Street now, making it more of a deterrent than an asset for businesses there.
Local sales tax
He also said he has heard people speak against the project because they believe Meridian will want to annex the land for the bypass a move that could lead to increased property taxes for the city.
A local option sales tax would let cities levy and charge their own sales tax for specific projects only after receiving voter approval in a referendum. The Legislature, though, has repeatedly killed local option sales tax proposals.
Marion Mayor Malcolm Threatt, who also serves as chairman of the Lauderdale County Council of Governments, said he has pushed for the bypass for several years without much help from the city of Meridian or Lauderdale County supervisors.
Supervisors who attended Monday's meeting Hank Florey of District 1, Jimmie Smith of District 2 and Craig Hitt of District 3 said they would like to see the project put back on MDOT's front burner.