The Lamar County Board of Supervisors will hold their second community meeting in two weeks to discuss upcoming roadwork in Oak Grove when officials present information about the Hegwood Road/Lincoln Road Project.
The meeting will be at 6 p.m. Monday at the Optimist Park Community Center located on Hegwood Road to discuss 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, according to Lamar County Administrator Joseph “Jody” Waits.
“Several of those are 16th Section Lands,” he said. “Appraisal/right-of-way acquisition representatives will be present to review the scope of the work and to answer questions regarding the project and right-of-way acquisition issues.”
Also, on hand for the meeting will be Lamar County officials, representatives from the County Engineer's office and the Board Attorney. Waits encouraged property owners, businesses and other interested parties to attend.
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).”
Last Monday, the Board of Supervisors held a public meeting to discuss roadwork along Old Hwy. 11 from Oak Grove Road to Old Hwy. 24.
