Just when you thought the year of orange traffic cones was behind you: they’re back!

In what looks to befuddle many of our minds when it’s fully completed, the Mississippi Department of Transportation has begun working to revamp the intersection of U.S. 61 and John R. Junkin Drive-U.S. 84 split.

MDOT has several Natchez projects under way — thanks no doubt to former Natchez mayor Larry L. “Butch” Brown, who now heads the state’s transportation department.

The work between Natchez Regional Medical Center and Tracetown Shopping Center will bring a state-of-the-art continuous flow intersection to our community.

Trying to explain how the traffic flow at the new intersection will work is a little like trying to describe the inner workings of the human brain.

Perhaps it’s best just to have a little faith and believe the traffic engineers who say the intersection will save us all time.

As the work gets cranked up, many of our daily commutes will become interrupted by the construction. And, just like the recent completion of the Natchez Trace terminus intersection with U.S. 61, the work will likely seem as if it will never end. But it will.

And when it does, we’ll have a great new intersection. We’ll all need a little patience as the work progresses, and we should be thankful for the investment MDOT is making in our community.