NATCHEZ — On paper, the changes to the John R. Junkin Drive at U.S. 61 South intersection definitely look radical.

But they aren’t just that, Mississippi Department of Transportation officials said. The change is also safe, convenient and economical.

Work has already begun to create a continuous flow intersection at the corner occupied by Natchez Regional Medical Center.

And the intersection will be only the second of its kind in the United States.

For a video of how a continuous flow intersection works, click on the folloing video link from ABMB engineers in Baton Rouge. Video Link .

Baton Rouge has the only existing intersection, but the model for the Natchez project is a set of roadways in Mexico City, Mexico.

The Natchez intersection is one that MDOT officials long ago tagged as overcrowded.

Drivers on either U.S. 61 South or John R. Junkin will move smoothly through the area based on the guidance of a series of timed lights. An added lane will take drivers in the left hand lanes across the flow of traffic in front of them.

MDOT Executive Director Larry L. “Butch” Brown said there are a myriad of benefits to the intersection.

“The primary benefit is it moves traffic through the intersection better than any other method,” he said. “It’s safe and it offers a quick flow for that high traffic count.”

Another major benefit of the continuous flow intersection is its cost.

“One of the challenges in our business is that costs are going up dramatically fast and what we’re faced with is less money ultimately to provide these intersections,” Brown said. “One of our ways to continue our mission is to find more economical ways to provide the same, safe traffic flow.”

The alternative to the continuous flow intersection would be a cloverleaf intersection that requires overpasses, which could cost between $30 and $40 million.

MDOT Resident Engineer Jim Eggleston said this project is only going to cost approximately $7.9 million to construct.

Safety

Because the traffic pattern is unfamiliar, Brown said there will be an inevitable adjustment period for the public.

“They’ll have to deal with this new pattern and the way things work,” he said.

Darrell Broome, MDOT engineer for District 7, said the intersection will be self explanatory, though.

“Any driver going through the intersection, the sign will show which lane to be in,” he said. “They’ll be guided through.”

Most people won’t even be aware that there’s a change in design, Broome said.

“It’ll look really similar,” he said.

Eggleston said he did not think the adjustment period would be very long for drivers.

“People will adjust to it pretty quickly,” he said.

Long term, the intersection should decrease the number of accidents in the area.

“One of the things that sold us on continuous flow intersections is when we stood at a five point intersection in Mexico City and asked designers and operators there about safety,” he said. “They were handling 15,000 cars there and in eight months only had two fender benders.”

He said MDOT spent an extensive amount of time studying the intersection in Mexico City as well as the one that was recently built in Baton Rouge.

“We think it’s safe,” Brown said. “That’s our first consideration in any intersection is driver safety.”

Construction

Construction began about a month ago in the form of paving and will grow more and more extensive for a little over a year. The entire project is expected to be completed by fall, 2009.

Eggleston said the flow of traffic during construction will remain fairly similar.

“The majority of time during construction things will work smoothly. Traffic will remain the way it is, open in both directions,” he said.

Things won’t slow down for drivers until the last phase of the project, where the lanes have to be overlayed.

When it comes time for that, the two lanes will become one.

“Other than that, we don’t expect any delays until that point,” he said.

However there will be some traffic back up, which may have an effect on business, Shoney’s Family Restaurant kitchen manager Steve White said.

“They might have the street blocked off in a way that makes it hard to get in and hard to get out,” White said. “People might not want to come because they won’t want to drive through the construction.”

But Shirley Dawson, manager at Dirt Cheap, which is located almost parallel with the construction site-to-be, said she doesn’t think the roadwork will affect sales.

“There has been construction out there before, and it hasn’t affected us,” Dawson said. “If people want to shop, they’re going to shop.”