MDOT funding idea
(NOTE: This idea is still under construction, and so will likely change from time to time until I finalize it.)
It has been noted by many that the 1987 Highway Plan concentrates a large amount of MDOT's financial resources on outstate corridors, to the detriment of urban congestion. The following idea is a proposal to combine the former 1987 Highway Program and Gaming Roads programs with the recently passed Vision 21 into one program which addresses both rural and urban traffic concerns.
Corridors and Congestion Program (CCP)
My proposal would scrap the 1987 Highway Program and the Gaming Roads program and modify the Vision 21 program and reallocate funding into a new program. Funding for this new program would be split between needed corridors in the rural areas (dubbed Rural Corridors, following the Vision 21 corridor standard), and congestion problems in the urban and gaming areas (dubbed Urban Areas).
| Area | Population (2000 Census) | % of state pop. |
| Urban/Gaming Counties | 1,393,082 | 49% |
| Rural Counties | 1,451,576 | 51% |
Urban Counties are considered to be those in areas in the following chart:
| Urban/Gaming Area (Counties) | Population (2000 Census) |
%
of Urban/Gaming County pop. |
| Jackson MPO/Vicksburg (Hinds/Rankin/Madison/Warren) | 490,455 | 35.2% |
| Gulf Coast MPO (Hancock/Harrison/Jackson) | 363,988 | 26.1% |
| Hattiesburg MPO (Forrest/Lamar) | 111,674 | 8% |
| Memphis MPO (DeSoto) | 107,199 | 7.7% |
| Meridian Urban Area (Lauderdale) | 78,161 | 5.6% |
| Tupelo Urban Area (Lee) | 75,755 | 5.4% |
| Greenville Urban Area (Washington) | 62,977 | 4.5% |
| Tunica/Helena, AR Gaming Area (Tunica/Coahoma) | 39,849 | 2.9% |
| Natchez Gaming Area (Adams) | 34,340 | 2.5% |
| Philadelphia Gaming Area (Neshoba) | 28,684 | 2.1% |
Funding Tables
The following table summarizes the amount of funding currently estimated for the existing Gaming Roads and 1987 Highway programs:
| Program | Annual Estimated Funding (2001-2020) |
| 1987 Highway Program | $190 million |
| Gaming Roads Program | $36 million |
Under CCP, the funding from the above two programs would be combined and resplit, with 50% (or $113 million annually) going each to Rural Corridors and Urban Areas. Funding going to Rural Corridors would be allocated on a priority needs basis, as provided in the Vision 21 legislation, and with an emphasis placed on completion of the main 1987 Highway Program corridors. Funding going to Urban Areas would be further split up, with 80% split among the urban/gaming areas, based on population (according to 2000 Census), and the remaining 20% remaining as contingency funding, to be allocated on a priority needs basis (again following Vision 21).
The following table shows how funding would be split among the urban/gaming areas under CCP:
| Urban/Gaming Area (Counties) | Annual Estimated Funding (2001-2020) |
| Jackson MPO/Vicksburg (Hinds/Rankin/Madison/Warren) | $31.82 million |
| Gulf Coast MPO (Hancock/Harrison/Jackson) | $23.59 million |
| Hattiesburg MPO (Forrest/Lamar) | $7.23 million |
| Memphis MPO (DeSoto) | $6.96 million |
| Meridian Urban Area (Lauderdale) | $5.06 million |
| Tupelo Urban Area (Lee) | $4.88 million |
| Greenville Urban Area (Washington) | $4.07 million |
| Tunica/Helena, AR Gaming Area (Tunica/Coahoma) | $2.62 million |
| Natchez Gaming Area (Adams) | $2.26 million |
| Philadelphia Gaming Area (Neshoba) | $1.90 million |
| Contingency Funding/Priority Needs | $22.6 million |
Page last modified 25 January, 2004