Highway 49 officially opens with ribbon-cutting ceremony

Highway 49 is officially open after five years of construction. Governor Tate Reeves along with the Mississippi Department of Transportation and other state leaders held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Monday.

Ribbon cutting ceremony for Highway 49. (Photo courtesy of MDOT)

The massive infrastructure improvement project calls for the reconstruction of 7.5 miles of U.S. 49 from Florence to Richland. Work began in the fall of 2017 and remained on track to be completed this summer.

“We understand the completion of this project has been a long time coming,” said Central Transportation Commissioner Willie Simmons in early May.

In April, crews reopened the Old U.S. Highway 49 crossover, the final high-priority closure of the project.

The project cost over $250,000,000 which created an additional two lanes for the Highway which now has a total of six lanes, three travel lanes and a shoulder in each direction.