By John Howell Sr.

Batesville will ask Mississippi Northern District Highway Commissioner Mike Tagert to upgrade Highway 6 from Bates Street to the west city limits.

Alderman Stan Harrison made the request of his fellow city officials Tuesday after he, Mayor Jerry Autrey and Alderman Eddie Nabors met informally with the highway commissioner last week.

The requested upgrade would include widening Highway 6/278 from Bates Street west and would include replacement of the railway overpass.

The request marks a shift in emphasis in local leadership from construction of an ambitious bypass project that would have provided east/west traffic an alternative that looped south of present Batesville corporate limits. The bypass project has been the object of several public hearings, starting in the late 1990s, with several routes proposed. The final route would have started on Highway 6 east near its intersection with Good Hope Road, extended south across the Eureka Road, Interstate 55 and Highway 35 before rejoining the present Highway 6 route near Chapeltown Road.

Harrison said that he asked Tagert about the feasibility of widening and upgrading the existing Highway 6/278 route, “since it looks like the bypass is so far down the road we don’t know whether we’ll ever see it or not.”

Upgrading Highway 6/278 along its present route was one of the options considered and then discarded during the development of bypass plans during the first decade of the century.

Harrison said that Tagert asked for a letter from the city to underscore the need for state and federal assistance to deal with east/west traffic congestion through Batesville.

“If they’re not going to do the bypass in the next couple our years; our business corridor, get it going,” Mayor Jerry Autrey said.

Tagert said during a phone interview Thursday that the proposed bypass cost would run into “hundreds of millions” while the state’s entire budget for new highway construction is presently $160 million. Bypass construction cannot begin “until we have a commitment for all the funding needed,” the highway commissioner said.

Tagert said that he had asked MDOT officials to determine the feasibility of funding for improving the existing route through Batesville.

During Tuesday’s meeting, Batesville officials agreed to solicit additional letters of support for upgrading the existing route from the county, North Delta School and the North Delta Planning and Development District, among others.