[Music and Intro]

(Drew Hall) MDOT presents The Extra Mile Podcast.

(Paul Katool) Welcome in to another edition of The Extra Mile Podcast presented by the Mississippi Department of Transportation. I'm Paul Katool, and as always, I’m joined by my co-host Will Craft. And uh, today is actually episode 100 of the show. We made it.

(Will Craft) Crazy.

(Paul) That is actually insane. No better person to commemorate that, uh, that occurrence than with Central District Transportation Commissioner and Chair of the Transportation Commission, Willie Simmons, commissioner Willie Simmons. Thank you so much for coming on this, uh, this big episode for us.

(Willie Simmons) Paul, Will, let me just say how much I appreciate you all and I watch you all often when you all are doing these events, uh, but to be here for the hundredth, uh, that's an honor to me. I don't know whether you chose me because, uh, I'm Willie Simmons or whether it just happened that I'm here. But let me just say how grateful I am and let me congratulate you all –

(Will) Thank you.

(Willie) on such a good job and having done 100 of, you know, it's amazing, so thank you.

(Will) Greatly appreciate it. Amazing is a great word. Shout out to the folks that are tuning in out there. I mean, uh, obviously we would not be doing this if we didn't have a, a viewership and audience. So, uh, to those that listen and, and watch, appreciate y'all sticking with us out there. We try and make it fun, uh, to you and have a good time with it. Bring us some, and, and bring some good information to the table as well. Uh, but yeah, a hundred episodes, believe it or not. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

(Willie) Yes.

(Will) Well, Commissioner, I, I, I'll steal Paul Thunder here just a bit on the intro, but, uh, yeah, another episode in, in the works for us. Lots going on, uh, from legislation to projects around the state. Uh, what, what you been up to?

(Willie) Working. Uh, before I tell you about all the work, let me, let me just say to all of those families and citizens who have been impacted negatively by some of the tornadoes inclement weather –

(Will) Sure.

(Willie) that has come through Mississippi. Uh. Our prayers are with you and we, the MDOT family are always there to support and make sure we do the things we can do to get the community back on track and connected. So, I want to one, thank our employees, but also do, do a special, uh, Paul, and thanks to the community for their support and let everybody know that we are there, uh, in your time of tragedy.

(Will) Absolutely. Uh, nature, is, uh, undefeated, as they say. So, our thoughts and prays, certainly with anybody out there been affected by the storms and the weather. Um, I, I used to not be scared of bad weather, a little bit of a sidetrack here, and then I, I sat in that, uh, tornado in Hattiesburg, uh, several years ago when I was in college. And well, you realize you, you're sort of foolish if you don't heed those warnings and, and, and, and watch out for that weather, but it'll get on you quick, too. And, uh, yeah. Yep. Without overstating the obvious here, certainly thoughts and prayers with, with anybody affected by the storms out there. Well said, sir.

(Willie) Well, you know, you’re talking about what I’ve been doing. We’ve been busy. We have a great Department of Transportation now with Commissioner Caldwell and Commissioner Busby, as well as Brad White and the entire staff, 2,700 plus employees. So, we’ve been doing a lot of work and thanks to the state legislature as well as the federal government who’s been giving us money that they have been giving us for the past four years. Uh, it means that we are going to be able to continue to do the work that we are doing. The lottery is doing as well. You see a lot of paving projects.

(Will) Oh yeah.

(Willie) Anywhere you go in the state of Mississippi. The legislature gave us capacity money over the past four years, and that has put us in a position of building new projects. Uh, let me just say here in the central district, how grateful I am, and I’m going to start out and work into the Metro Jackson area a little bit. Uh, but when you go north, and I like to think about the north, the Delta area, Highway 82, uh, the Greenville Bypass. That’s about a $215 million project that we are really, really excited about.

And that project is going well. As a matter of fact, we are ahead of schedule. Uh, Eutaw Construction Company is doing that project, and we should have that project completed with citizens riding on it, uh, Labor Day this year.

(Will) Oh, wow.

(Paul) Wow.

(Willie) That’s going to do wonders for that area. Uh, it’s going to be an economic development opportunity and road for the Washington County, Greenville and Delta area. And it's also a safety issue because we are taking trucks, hauling all kind of chemicals and things out of a community, uh, in a residential and business area and centered around Greenville. So, I'm so happy and excited about that.

You come south. Into the Yazoo area, and we was fortunate to get a discretionary grant from the secretary, uh, about $35 million that we, uh, overlaying Highway 49, uh, from Satartia up to Yazoo. And that project has already started. So, we are very excited about that. Uh, in addition to that, when we go east, uh, over in Neshoba County, Neshoba County has a project Highway 19. That we have had on the books and been working on probably 20 years.

(Will) Oh, wow.

(Willie) Uh, uh, for a long, long time. And that is the four-laning of Highway 19 from Philadelphia over to Meridian. We just let the last phase of that contract, uh, and that contract has been given to Yates Construction, and they're getting ready to build the last phase of the four-lane highway. So, the citizens of Neshoba County, Philadelphia and Meridian are very excited about that and so are we. But in addition to that, uh, Weyerhaeuser is one of the big industries there in Neshoba County. And we are having challenges getting those log trucks in and out of Weyerhaeuser going through the local community. We are getting ready to do a roundabout and do some enhancements in that particular area to make sure that work on Highway 16 and 19, uh, in the city limits of Philadelphia.

So, all over the place. We done a lot of work, bridges in Newton County. Uh, you go to Lauderdale County where uh, they just received a big announcement from the governor a couple of weeks ago with, uh, Compass coming in and putting in, um, a data center, uh, over there.

(Will) Okay.

(Willie) That's going to be big for the community, and it's right near Highway 8 –
Highway 80 and 11. And we are currently doing work, uh, have a contract to go in and do some bridge work, as well as expanding and widening Highway 80 and 11 in that area. So, they're excited about what we are doing now, and then you come into the Jackson area. We are doing so much work in the Jackson area that we sometimes get complaints from the citizens. Uh, we get complaints. Uh, Will, as you well know, uh, having worked around the legislators as long as you did, uh, citizens complain when progress is made.

(Will) Sure.

(Willie) Because they want progress, but they don't have a lot of patience. Uh, when you look at Interstate 55, what we doing at the Pearl River, uh, with the bridge situation that we are working on now, and that project, it is going to take us through the summer to get completed. Uh, because not only are we doing it, uh, where the bridge is as part of river, but we are also going into the stack and enhancing that area. At the same time, we have a project going on, on Highway 80. Uh, so when you combine Highway 80 and Interstate 55 in the city limits of Jackson, uh, you begin to create a traffic problem.

But I wanna thank you guys, uh, because y'all were very great in putting out information and continue to put out information about the flow of traffic and where you need to go and the slowdown of traffic. But in addition to that, when we first started that project, uh, y'all got out front and communicated well with the public. So, the public has not given us many complaints about. What's going on, uh, with that particular project now. So, I'm excited about that.

And then moving to Interstate 20, going east, uh, we just let a project, uh, because, uh, that particular project, the interstate between Brandon, going east of Brandon, uh, we are picking up rocks and individuals are complaining about all of that. But we just led a contract now to pave that particular segment of the highway going to be about 11 miles, I think. Uh, keep it on Interstate 20 when you come into the Jackson area. Uh, we've had complaints about the lights, uh, being out on Interstate 20, going from the stack over to Highway 18, Robinson Road we now have a contract of about $2.4 million let, uh, that we going to put lights up on Interstate 20.

So, we gonna take, uh, we, we just finished not too long ago, paving that section of Interstate 20. Uh, but we are going to now come back and we're gonna put lights on it. We also was very fortunate to be able to internally and to have, uh, a contractor to put lights up on 220 from just north of, uh, highway 80, going all the way up to Interstate 55, uh, within the median. So, we now looking at a study that we are doing that's going to look at the entire system, uh, of putting lights up. So, we excited about the work that we are doing, uh, here.

Madison County Interstate, uh, 55, uh, we are looking to do more work there, but, uh, we already, uh, have projects going on in Interstate 55 working with the county, and we excited about that over in Rankin County, the West Rankin Parkway. Uh, that contract is moving forward. And we look forward to having that project completed sometime in the near future. So work, work, work. And we excited about it and just anxious to do more.

(Will) I bet so. No notes.

(Paul) Wow.

(Will) Man did all that with no notes.

(Paul) That was incredibly impressive. We have a saying in Public Affairs, MDOT is working for you. And that is certainly true. That is, that is quite the list, Commissioner Simmons. So, thank you for all of that. And listen, not a highway or interstate project, but I understand recently a ribbon cutting for an LPA project, local public agency, the Museum Trail. I believe you were there. Can you tell us a little bit about that?

(Willie) You know, you're talking about connectivity. And MDOT is about safety. Uh, we are about building highways and bridges, so we can get our citizens in cargo to and from where they need to go. But when you're able to go in and do those LPA TAP grant projects, working with municipalities, that's one here in the city of Jackson that's truly going to connect Jackson in a manner that we have never seen before. And I'm excited about it because when you think about that trail and the Heart Association, as well as there's a lot of other private partners working in conjunction with, uh, the city, uh, the county, and we, Department of Transportation, it's been able to move that, and we are connecting museums.

Uh, when you look at the Ag Museum, uh, and that trail going from the Ag Museum under Interstate 55, uh, over to the Children Museum and eventually to the Hall of Fame, uh, museum across Lakeland. And then when you come back on the west side, uh, north side of Interstate 55, you're going to be looking at connecting it to Jackson State. That’s going to be awesome.

(Will) Okay.

(Willie) Where we’re going to have this trail going from Jackson State through, and close to the Two Museums touching our ag museum, going over to the Children’S Museum and to the Hall of Fame. Citizens going to be able to walk, ride bicycles, enjoy themselves the beauty of what we was involved in the other day with the, uh, flowers as being put down and also, you know, to the Heart Association who kind of have a leadership role in that particular project, but to all of the partners who are involved, I just wanna say how grateful we are as the Department of Transportation to be able to work with them and make that kinda connectivity in the city of Jackson and hooray to them.

(Will) Absolutely.

(Paul) Absolutely. It’s a beautiful trail, too. I live right off of it in Belhaven, so thanks to everybody that made that happen. I use it all the time.

(Will) I think we'll, uh, we'll probably end up trying to get another, a video project and, uh, stick David Kenney on a bicycle.

(Paul) Oh, yeah.

(Will) Uh, make him go ride and get us some good shots there.

(Willie) Let me know when you do it, and I might ride with him.

(Will) Absolutely.

(Paul) Oh, yeah, there’s an idea.

(Will) We’ll make that happen. Uh, a couple, I just wanted to, before we get too far off of these couple things, I just wanted to say, talking about, uh, US 82 and, and, and 19, I mean, all the good things that those are gonna do for the communities and everything that you've just mentioned, economic development of it. Uh, getting some of those large trucks, big trucks, heavy traffic out of downtown, but shoot, it, it, it might bolster a little bit of tourism 'cause I know we've been talking about those projects for so long. I'm gonna go ride on that bypass just, just as soon as it's through just 'cause I wanna see it. Same thing. 19. I feel like it's been a topic for so long. When it gets finished, I'm gonna have to go see it. So, I feel like there'd be, you know, some other folks out there too might get a little tourism bump out of it, you know.

(Willie) Well, some of those probably been, been talked about since you were a young, young child in elementary school.

(Will) Probably even before then. Uh, I would not be surprised. Some of those, for sure. Uh, and the other thing I wanna just circle back on the lighting you, you mentioned, uh, man, that is something that we, we do hear a lot about often. Uh, and I forgive my ignorance a little bit here, but what's our, what's our latest kind of on the, the theft of the copper wires that sort of stopped for a little while or.

(Willie) I guess you could say it slowed down a little bit because they've taken most of it out.

(Will) Oh, if there’s no more to get.

(Willie) If there’s no copper to get, then you can't, you can't get to it. Um, but it, it is a challenge, uh, because we, Department of Transportation have invested so much money into trying to make sure that our interchanges and interstates were safe and well, uh, with lights on them. That's created a problem for us with individuals stealing the copper. Uh, but we have spent money, uh, hundreds of thousands of dollars replacing, and in many cases, as soon as we get it, uh, in place, someone comes along and take it again. But that's the purpose of the Garver study that we are doing. And I said Gar, Garver’s the engineering firm that has that, uh, contract. The purpose of that is to have them to take a look at the entire metro area and figure out what's the best lighting we should have. Uh, and they'll come back with some recommendation, uh, probably where we can get away from the copper. Or if we do continue to have copper, put some kind of measures in place where it is more challenging and difficult for people to steal it so that we can get away from that.

Because the last thing we want to have happened is because of inadequate lighting we have a situation where, um, an accident or something occur. We are about safety, and we wanna make sure that you can, one, see when you're traveling our interstate system, but also when you're doing, getting off on an interchange that you have lights, uh, good lighting, in place to make that work.
Uh, beautification. Um, lighting is a part of that beautification as well as the safety aspect of it, and as the beautification is concerned, here in the Jackson area, uh, litter.

Litter is a problem because for some reason, uh, it appears that individuals just love dropping and putting litter out on my right-of-ways in the metro Jackson area.
And I call it my right-of-way because I'm responsible for as commissioner to make sure that we keep as beautiful of our interstate system as possibly can. And we have several things going on with that. Uh, one, we were initially, as you well know, when we mow, uh, the contractors as we employ, when they mow, they pick up the little, uh, before mowing and it's all tied into the same contract. And we was doing that five times a year. Because of the grass growth in this area, for whatever reason, uh, we have increased that mowing to eight mowings a year.

(Will) Oh, wow. Okay.

(Willie) Uh, so we mow now from April through November. Uh, and during the months of November through February, March, uh, we not mowing, so no one is picking the trash up, uh, as far as MDOT is concerned. So, what we did was we are spending about $110 million on a secondary contract to pick up litter during the months of December, January, February, March to help keep the beautification. But we also have some volunteers, uh, working with us who are picking up litter and trash and doing a very good job, uh, along Interstate 55 from Lakeland up to County Line Road that's working out well as well as a group that's picking up, uh, trash and litter from, uh, Interstate 55 over to Pearl River on Lakeland. Those two, uh, groups of individuals who are coming in on their own, working with the local community, uh, because they do get some financial support to help with some of the stuff from the local businesses. They're doing a phenomenal job, and we are so thankful to them.

Uh, we also have a sweepers contract up on Interstate 55 where we sweep the interstate and we just renewed that contract and hired someone else. And then finally, uh, we are currently working with an MOU, uh, that we have in place of putting in place with the sheriff of Hinds County and the City of Jackson. So, we will have offenders if, when we ever get that program up and running. Going out working with the sheriff and the local police department. And what we would do is through our trash uh, program here with Department of Transportation, we can reimburse the sheriff and the city up to $50,000 a year to pay for someone to supervise the offenders. And we also have a program where we assist, and we'll give to those entities, the city and the county sheriff a truck when we have one possible to help pick litter up.

(Will) Okay.

(Willie) So, we doing all kinds of things –

(Will) That's exactly right.

(Willie) to keep Metro Jackson beautiful and to keep the lights shining.

(Will) Uh, my, you hit it at every nail on the head there. Innovating, uh, thinking of, you know, thinking creatively, coming up with new solutions. Uh, the only one that I had, uh, heard that we have not mentioned, I believe this may or may not have come from our director, but was to, uh, he was gonna talk about the lighting at one point. I think we were gonna electrify the poles or something. So, if he grabbed a hold of that wire, it would shock you. I think there may have been some legal issues with that.

(Willie) Uh, well, I was, I was, I was, uh, had that kind of conversation with the folks and suggested that we should look at doing that. And I said to him, I didn't know if we wanted to get into that harsh of a punishment, but we do need to do something to curtail it.

(Will) Maybe a, a wide, uh, wide-eyed awakening if you grabbed a hold of that pole over there by accident for some reason.

(Willie) Yes.

(Will) But, uh, yeah no, no doubt about it.

(Paul) Yikes on that one. I will tell you, I’ve worked here for a little over eight years now, and for the first time the other day, someone actually called and said things are looking nice out there on the, uh, interstates and highways in the Jackson Metro area. So, people, people are noticing that’s a, that’s a good thing. Uh, usually we get, you know, the bad calls. I’m sure some people, uh, you know, but anyway, so good stuff there.

(Willie) We had a young lady here in Jackson who has been beating up on me since 2020 when I first became commissioner and had a conversation with her a week or so ago. And she commended us also.

(Will) Look at that.

(Willie) You're making improvements, so.

(Paul) Let's, let's go.

(Willie) It's always good to hear.

(Will) The proof is in the pudding, too, like you said. I mean, you can go out there and, and see it right now. Uh, shout out to all the folks out there, MDOT and otherwise. I, I believe that’s, uh, Mr. Locke Ward and some of those folks over there.

(Willie) He is one of those volunteers I mentioned, uh, picking up trash on 55.

(Will) Killing it out there.

(Willie) Yes.

(Will) Doing a great job.

(Paul) No doubt. Uh, Will, anything else before we hit the, uh, the fun questions to close this out?

(Will) Well, I think we just, just one, the main, the main, uh, uh, piece of literature that we've been looking at here recently.

(Paul) Oh, yes.

(Will) Uh, to no end. But it, it looks like, uh, the secured recurring revenue stream, uh, new revenue stream for MDOT to, to move forward into the future. It looks like we’re, we’re at the doorstep.

(Willie) Well, you know, I have to give thanks to several groups to include, and I started with the commissioners, Commissioner Caldwell and Commissioner Busby, along with Brad White and you all, uh, Department of Transportation, what we have done and coming together to say that we need the recurring funding, funding. And to make the case, uh, I think it's been phenomenal. But then the other group is the state legislature, the governor, lieutenant governor, and the speaker, as well as the 121 legislators who serve. They've heard us. And this year, uh, we are very excited. The fact that the governor, lieutenant, governor, the speaker, and the legislators have all been singing our praises and saying that we wanna make sure whatever we do, uh, that we include taking care of Department of Transportation by putting recurring dollars into it. Uh, now we have a bill that has been voted on by the Senate and the House, uh, a couple times and has gone to the governor's, uh, desk for his signature, and we are looking forward to his signature because that bill, it’s going to for the first time since 1987 from the legislature, other than the lottery money, it's going to speak to giving the Department of Transportation recurring money for its infrastructure.

Uh, it gives money to State Aid. It also gives money to Multi-modal program. So, we are excited about what the legislation, how the legislature feel about us.
That 9 cents that we are going to get over three-year period, 3 cents a year for the next three years, uh, increase at the pump. Uh, and as well as an index, uh, we could see as much as $200 million or put it close to it coming to us annually. That is going to give us an opportunity to do more maintenance.

So, when I talk about all of the projects that we are doing and the kind of, uh, maintenance that we are doing with the lottery money. It's nowhere near where we need to be, uh, because we need somewhere around $400 million annually to take care of our maintenance from our highways and bridges. But we are not complaining.

(Will) That's right.

(Willie) We are saying thank you. We are so grateful that the legislature have saw the need and going to send this opportunity to us, and I promise to them that when they send us these resources, we are going to manage and administrator, we are going to be transparent. Are we going to be accountable? And we are going to show them that what we said in our three-year plan that we are going to roll those projects out and then we'll look to the future on how we do more throughout the state of Mississippi.

(Will) Yeah, I, I, I would, you took the words outta my mouth there. I was gonna say, you know, it's, it, a lot of times you hear these big funding measures and these conversations come up, and there's a want there for the funding, but we, we don't always have a clear picture of what comes with the funding. Uh, but for MDOT specifically, that is not the case, right? If you're curious about where the, the new money is going. We've got a plan.

(Willie) We have a plan.

(Will) And it is out there. Anybody can go look at it. You can see exactly where that money's gonna go.

(Willie) It’s called a three-year plan. Now, I have to say to the audience, when we say three years, it doesn’t mean we’re gonna build a highway in three years.

(Will) That’s very true. Very true.

(Willie) But it’s in the plan.

(Will) We’ll try.

(Willie) But yeah, and in that plan, it means that we startdoing the preliminary kinds of work to get a project shovel ready so that when we do have the monies that we can move it forward. Uh, I'm, I'm very pleased to say to the citizen of Madison, Rankin County that as funds come in for capacity projects, you all, based on what we have done as commissioner and having the support of the other two commissioners and the staff, Madison County, Rankin County, uh, you'll be looked at as being the next big project that we come out with, uh, based on capacity projects and the resources being available. So, I'm excited.

(Will) Me, too. As a, as a Rankin County resident, uh, as an MDOT staffer as well, though, and a Mississippian, though, let me, let me just say that, too, I feel like things are going, uh, there’s just a lot of things going in the right direction. Uh, everything’s not perfect for everybody. Uh, but in the, in the, at least the echo chamber, uh, that, that I reside in for a large part of the time, things seem to be going in the right direction. A lot of good stuff going, a lot of positive stuff happening.

(Willie) Most definitely.

(Paul) Shout out to the many people that made it happen.

(Will) Absolutely.

(Paul) Very, very cool. Will, you wanna hit the fun stuff?

(Will) That's right. Let's, uh, let's get into it. We know the questions that everybody's been waiting for. Of course. Uh, of course. And, and commissioner now you're, you're a little bit of a special guest, uh, in many ways, but specifically too, now being a former restaurant owner-operator, I know you're, you're outta the business now. Uh, I, I believe, uh. You may get told otherwise you have to do some work on occasionally. But what about a new place to eat? You've been anywhere new to eat lately?

(Willie) You know what? I get hung up on what I like.

(Will) That’s fair.

(Willie) And I have a tendency to go back to places that I like. So have not gone to a new place recently. And then I can say to you, this is a place to go to. Um, but again, if you look for fast food, I'm gonna take you to Chick-fil-A.

(Will) Sure, yeah.

(Willie) If you wanna have a sit-down meal, you can always go to a lot of different places. If you're up in Madison, you can go to Caet and/or Koestler Prime, and there are many others, but those are two that I frequent often. And then if you want to get back into the Jackson area, Char always is available and you have just a lot of good eateries. Uh, Amerigo’s, uh, I go to quite often because it's right near my office.

(Will) Okay.

(Willie) So, there are a lot of good places that I can give you a list to go to, but I haven't gone to any new place that I can think of recently.

(Will) Well, we, we will hold you to that. We'll look for the update. Okay. Uh, at the next next edition of the podcast here. How, how is the, uh, is, is there anything still going on with the old restaurant?

(Willie) Uh, no. The old restaurant is vacant. And I have no plans of going back in it to be the restaurant owner. Restaurant work is hard work.

(Will) That's what they tell me.

(Willie) So, to all of those individuals who own restaurants, thank you for providing good meals for us.

(Will) Amen.

(Paul) It is a, uh, it’s a tough living, but shout out to everyone out there that does it. And, uh, seg, segueing to our next question, our last question. Uh, any music you’ve seen lately? I know maybe you said there’s a little blues festival back in the fall?

(Willie) You know, back in September, uh, my good friend Bobby Rush, who is 92 years of age and still jumping up on stage and kicking and entertaining. Uh, he has performed at every Blues festival, uh, about 48 of them. So we got involved in helping him to celebrate, uh, and making any Bobby Rush day. And we, we, we did, uh, an event for him, uh, like a roast. And I was fortunate enough to serve as the master of ceremonies for that particular event because Bobby and I go back and we have such a great relationship, but he's such a great entertainer and one who never forgets his roots and his fans.

So, I always get excited when I'm around him, and we go out to eat. As a matter of fact, we were at Manship, uh, a couple weeks ago and his fans and folks come in. And they're looking over at the table and I'm saying, you know, I'm getting a lot of looks today. And folks come running over and they looking at Bobby Rush. They're not looking at, that's always kind of funny to, to, to watch and, and to observe how he's able to keep that relationship and be an entertainer who has received three Grammys but still be touchable. He's, he's, you can reach him. And so, I was honored to be able to work with him and be the master of ceremony for his roast in Greenville back in September.

(Will) That is pretty cool.

(Paul) That is awesome. Quite the, uh, quite the Bluesman Bobby Rush, so very, very cool on that. Hey, listen, we've got a gotten a lot of great information from you today, Commissioner Simmons. Chairman Simmons, thank you so much for joining us. Greatly appreciated.

And hey, I wanna shout out, uh, Waverly McCarthy and Katey Hornsby. They also worked on the show. So, uh, dating back to 2001 and Drew Hall, of course, our producer/editor, he's been holding things down the whole time. So, a hundred episodes in the books. We want to thank our listeners, our viewers, for the whole, the whole time. Thank you for tuning in and listening. You can watch and listen to episodes by visiting GoMDOT.com/TheExtraMile. Follow us on social media, @MississippiDOT is the handle. And remember to drive smart out there on Mississippi highways.

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