NATCHEZ — Drought can be a good thing.

The lack of rain in the area has provided the Mississippi Department of Transportation with plenty of work days at the continuous flow intersection at John R. Junkin Drive and U.S. 61 South.

The newest addition at the intersection is traffic lights.

“They are the permanent poles,” MDOT Project Engineer Jim Eggleston said. “We’re moving toward getting everything lined up to where we’ll be able to use them.”

Currently the lights atop the poles are cloaked with plastic to avoid confusion.

Median work to create a new road on U.S 61 South is nearly complete.

“(U.S.) 61 is actually finished,” Eggleston said. “There are two more layers of asphalt to go on that, so we don’t do any of the last two layers until we complete the project.”

The focus now is on the road that curves off of John R. Junkin onto 61 South.

“We’ll still be working on that for some time to come,” he said.

Within the next month, MDOT workers will begin installing irrigation and start landscaping.

“After that we’ll probably go ahead and plant,” Eggleston said. “It’ll be similar to what’s at Liberty Road (bridge) but not as extravagant.”

But while construction can continue on in the absence of rain, landscaping depends on the weather.

“It may hinge on how hot and dry it’s supposed to be,” he said.

Changes in traffic pattern aren’t slated to occur in the near future, and Eggleston said the project should be complete by the end of the year.