According to ablogtophone, US 82 is a US Highway in the US state of Mississippi. The road forms an east-west route through the center of the state, from the Arkansas border at Greenville through Winona and Columbus to the Alabama border. US 82 is 290 kilometers long in Mississippi.

Travel directions

US 82 between Winona and Eupora.

US 82 forms an east-west route and is at least a 2×2 divided highway statewide and a freeway in the east around the Columbus region. US 82 in Arkansas comes from Texarkana and crosses the Mississippi River into the state of Mississippi. The route passes through several regional towns such as Greenville, Leland, Indianola, Greenwood, Winona, Starkville and the largest town, Columbus. The route leads in the west through open area, the eastern two thirds are densely wooded. One crosses Interstate 55 at Winona.

History

According to beautyphoon, US 82 was added to the US Highway network in 1932. The eastern terminus at the time was Columbus, and the route passed through only two states, Arkansas and Mississippi. In 1934, the route was extended both east and west, creating the current route through Mississippi. In the late 1920s, US 82 in the Mississippi River Valley was paved, the rest was a gravel road. It was not until the second half of the 1930s that progress was made to pave US 82 in the middle and east of Mississippi, the first part was around Columbus in 1938. Then it went quickly and by 1941 the entire US 82 was paved..

On October 4, 1940, the two-lane Benjamin G. Humphreys Bridge opened over the Mississippi River at Greenville. The bridge became problematic in the 1960s because of its narrow profile for agricultural vehicles and its position on a bend in the Mississippi River that often caused ships to hit the bridge piers. Although the bridge was structurally in good condition, it was functionally outdated. In 1994 it was decided to replace the bridge with a new bridge. The construction of the replacement bridge started in 2001, but construction progressed quite slowly, only on August 4, 2010, the new four-lane Greenville Bridge was opened, a cable- stayed bridge with a larger span than the old bridge.

Traffic on US 82 steadily increased from the 1960s onwards and in the early 1970s the first sections were widened to four lanes, at Greenwood and Columbus. A highway was immediately built around Columbus, the first part of which opened in 1974 on the west side of the city. In 1976, four-lane sections also opened at Starkville, Indianola and Greenville. In 1977 the section between Leland and Indianola was widened to 4 lanes, and the highway between Starkville and Columbus was also completed. In 1981, most of the section between Greenville and Winona was four lanes. In 1992, the highway opened around Columbus and beyond to the Alabama border. The last section to be doubled to 4 lanes was the middle section from Winona to Starkville. This happened from the late 1990s and was completed in 2004.

Future

Around Greenville is a bypass in progress that has been constructed as a freeway. Due to structural budget deficits in the state of Mississippi, it was planned to build this bypass in three phases, in phase 1 a 10-mile section between the bridge over the Mississippi River and the connection to State Route 1 south of Greenville with earthworks and works of art are constructed. In phase 2 this would be extended to the existing US 82 at Leland, this section is approximately 14 kilometers long. In phase 3, the entire bypass would then be asphalted. In the end, only phase 1 was carried out between 2008 and 2012, which was then left unused for a long time. In 2020, the state of Mississippi received federal funding to build the rest of the bypass. Construction of the bypass to Leland began on February 28, 2022. This section is to be opened by the end of 2025.

Traffic intensities

Every day, 7,000 vehicles travel across the Mississippi River, rising to 18,000 vehicles between Greenville and Leland, before dropping to 10,000 vehicles as far as Indianola. 20,000 vehicles passed through Indianola, and 6,000 vehicles continued as far as Greenwood. Between Greenwood and I-55 at Winona, 5,500 to 7,500 vehicles and 4,000 to 8,000 vehicles ran between Winona and Starkville. This increases to 19,000 vehicles between Starkville and Columbus and up to 28,000 vehicles at Columbus. 5,600 vehicles continue to the Alabama border.