Natchez Trace reopens around Tupelo
Dec. 23—TUPELO — Six months of roadwork on the Natchez Trace Parkway around Tupelo ended Thursday afternoon, giving motorists an early Christmas present.
But drivers should be alert to changes to the road, especially around the parkway headquarters just north of Tupelo.
NTP Chief of Maintenance Greg Smith said there are "significant changes in traffic patterns in front of Parkway Visitor Center (milepost 266) as the result of improved striping."
The parkway shut down a 6-mile stretch from Highway 6 to McCullough Boulevard from July through mid-October. When it reopened, the stretch from McCullough north past the visitor center closed.
The closures were to accommodate extensive repaving to the stretch of parkway, plus other repairs.
"This marks the completion of a project that started in July 2021, at Milepost 257," Smith said, "Crews are working on the final touches of the project. Please slow down and watch for workers in the area."
He noted that as crews wrap up the project, there could be some one-lane closures in the coming days to finish striping.
While the roadwork near Tupelo is finished, another project will keep a longer section of the parkway in Tishomingo County and into Alabama at least partially closed until next summer.
That $40 million, 40-mile project started in late October with the closure of the parkway from the Tennessee Tombigbee Waterway just south of Bay Springs Lake to U.S. Highway 72 near Cherokee, Alabama.
The project will consist of complete rehabilitation of the main roadway, milling and overlaying ramps and pull-off areas, traffic safety improvements, and accessibility improvements from mile post 291 through mile post 331.
The first phase of that project should be complete by the end of December. Phase 2 will begin in the spring of 2022 and the final phase will follow. All of the work is expected to be finished by the summer of 2022.
