Construction on the new $23 million Regions Bank facility will begin while Lamar County is making improvements and repairs on Hegwood and Lincoln roads, Oak Grove residents in the area were told during a community meeting Monday night.
About 30 people heard about the Hegwood/Lincoln Project from county officials during the meeting, which was held at the Optimist Park/Arnold Line Community Center located on Hegwood Road. The project is expected to take at least 18 months of construction.
Engineers explained roadway widening of Hegwood Road from U.S. Hwy. 98 south to Lincoln Road and along Lincoln Road from Hegwood Road to just east of Lamar Boulevard.
Placing a traffic signal at the intersection of Hegwood Road at Lincoln Road is also included. About 30 parcels of land are involved in the roadwork area. Appraisal/right-of-way acquisition representatives reviewed the scope of the work.
Project engineer Jason Lamb said some discussions have centered on the work surrounding the Regions Bank facility and Lamar Boulevard, the facility’s primary access road.
“There has been a tremendous amount of dialogue among the Area Development Partnership, the Lamar County Board of Supervisors and the City of Hattiesburg,” he said. “There is a reconstruction project from what I understand to be the full length of Lamar Boulevard. They will be rebuilding – literally, rebuilding – the full length of Lamar Boulevard.
“At the request of Regions, it is my understanding that due to the volume of truck traffic and the volume of truck traffic that is going to be delivered with the construction of Regions, Regions has asked that some of the reconstruction of that roadway be deferred until closer to the end of their project. … It is going to be an extensive reconstruction.”
Lamb said construction work will be in full swing on the roads and the Regions facility.
“It is going to be interesting to see,” he said. “It’s impossible to predict as we stand here tonight, but it will be interesting to see how our right-of-way negotiations go, how our utility relocations go, how Regions’ construction schedule progresses and how construction on Lamar Boulevard all come in.”
County Engineer Don Walker said the entire roadway will have curbs and gutters with underground storm drainage.
“If you have driven Fourth Street with curb-and-gutter sections, that is basically what we are looking at,” he said. “It will be expanded at the intersections, Lamar Boulevard and Hegwood Drive to account for some additional turn lanes.”
Right turn lanes will be added from south Hegwood Road into Optimist Park and west Lincoln Road Extended into Lamar Boulevard.
County Administrator Joseph “Jody” Waits said the work on the roads was planned before Regions Bank announced that it was building a $23 million, 75,000-square-foot operations facility near the intersection of Lamar Boulevard and Lincoln Road. The development will bring 91 new jobs to Lamar County and new opportunities to downtown Hattiesburg.
“The improvements to Hegwood Road/Lincoln Road Extension are part of Lamar County’s Comprehensive Plan and were ongoing prior to Regions Bank,” Waits said. “However, the relocating of Regions to Lincoln Road Extension certainly heightens the need to complete the improvements. The improvements to Lamar Blvd by the City of Hattiesburg are part of the Regions Bank MOU (Memorandum of Understanding).”
The Lamar County Board of Supervisors held a similar community meeting on March 19 in the Oak Grove Community Center behind the library to discuss the Old Highway 11 and Old Highway 24 Road project. Construction work consists of roadway widening of Old 11 from the Oak Grove High School to Old 24 and a multi-use pathway along Old 11 and Old 24.
