JACKSON, MS (Mississippi News Now) -
A public meeting was held at Lee Elementary on Thursday evening for residents to view the construction plans for the widening of I-55 from McDowell Road to the Copiah County line.
The $146 million project will take about two years to build.
The plans call for an additional two lanes, making the highway six lanes.
The forum is the last scheduled public meeting before construction begins early 2013.
Central District Transportation Commissioner Dick Hall says the work will be very disruptive to rush hour commutes.
"We're going to have to have that traffic head-to-head on one side of the highway while we rebuild the other side. We're going to try to maintain four lanes, two going each way. It's going to be tight, and people are going to have to be careful. They've got to slow down and watch what they're doing."
Hall says most of the 17.1 mile stretch of highway that will be widened was built about 50 years ago.
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