By John Howell Sr.

Batesville city officials are asking Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT) to reconsider speeds posted on Mississippi Highway 6/278 through Batesville.

“It’s too fast,” Alderman Eddie Nabors said during the Nov. 5 meeting.

A 55 miles-per-hour speed limit is posted on 6/278 at the east city limits. From Power Drive west on 6/278, the posted limit is 45 mph.

The recent reconfiguration of the Hwy. 6/278 intersection at I-55 added two traffic lights to the east/west route through the city, bringing to eight the total number of traffic signals on the route.
“I just don’t want trucks trying to make all the lights, …” Nabors said.

“And cars, too,” Alderman Bill Dugger interjected.

“At a 55 miles-an-hour clip,” Nabors added.

“I don’t think we can set that,” Mayor Jerry Autrey said.

“We can ask,” Nabors said.

Why don’t we write a letter to MDOT and ask them for 45 there (east of I-55) and 35 all the way through?” Alderman Stan Harrison asked.

“Maybe they can survey and see what they think,” Nabors said.

Aldermen also agreed to write another letter to MDOT, this one a request that new lighting to be installed at the I-55/Hwy. 6/278 interchange be mounted on black poles to match the existing lighting at the interchange. Aldermen voted to send the letter and then to offer for the city to pay the difference if black poles are most costly.

Meanwhile, the city has had no response from an earlier letter to MDOT requesting a traffic study to determine if a signal can be placed at the intersection of Highway 51 and James St.
“We wrote the letters; we haven’t got a response back,” Mayor Jerry Autrey said, responding to a question from Dugger.

Autrey said that he had requested that the traffic count be conducted during school hours.
“If we don’t want the light working except during these hours, why can’t we get a count (during school hours),” Autrey said. “I think something is going to come out of this,” he added.
“We just don’t need to let it drop,” Dugger said.