MDOT presents the extra mile podcast.

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 cohost Will Craft. Will, we we made it to another year of the Extra Mile podcast. This is 2025's last episode and on today's show, we have two special guests.

We have Northern District Transportation Commissioner John Caldwell and Central District Transportation Commissioner Willie Simmons. Just finished up the last commission meeting of 2025. Thank you so much for both of you for joining us today.

Well, thank you for having us.

Same here. And, Paul, let me say how much we appreciate what you all do. This is a great activity that Department of Transportation have and you guys are fantastic in what you're doing. So keep up the good work. Good communication.

Thank you so much.

That's right.

That is very very kind. So, let's let's look back at the year. I'm sure accomplished everything you wanted to, but yeah. So, do you think you accomplished a lot in this past year? What what are some of the big major accomplishments?

Well, I'll say this. I think it's encouraging to me to watch not just the big accomplishments or you know, we look for milestones obviously, But it's a continuous process, and it's just encouraging to watch that process move in a positive direction, over and over, from January to February, from June to July, from August to September. It just, I don't see us taking any steps backwards. Every step is forward, and, of course, we all get a little anxious, and we want more, more, more, and I even have a little slogan that I use out in some of the political jargon, I say, More faster. Because that's what everybody wants.

All my constituents, the legislators across the street, the engineers here, the contract engineers, the contractors, the pavers, everybody wants more. The mayors want more, the supervisors want more, and we want more with them.

That's right.

The good thing is that it's heading in such a positive direction that you can't help but be encouraged.

Excellent.

What's gratifying to me is the fact that, one, we have such a great family. Department of Transportation, we the three commissioners, then I we the three commissioners, then our CEO, Brad, and the staff, the 2,700 employees. You put that family together and we are awesome in what we're doing in carrying out the mission for the Department of Transportation. In addition to that, this year was great because the state legislature, the governor's office, and lieutenant governor speaker did something that hadn't been done in since 1987. They decided to give Department of Transportation recurring dollars with the House Bill one that was passed and that's going to eventually get us about $200,000,000.

So you look at that. And then I'm also grateful for the fact that when I look at the nation and how divided it is over partisan politics, you can't get anything done in Washington DC because of the partisan politics that that goes on here in Mississippi. We have a commission with two gentlemen who are great Republicans and one Democrat, myself. A great Democrat

with my name.

I'm sorry. I love it.

And here I am serving as chairperson. And we don't see republicans, democrat, or independent highways and bridges. We see a mission in front of us that the citizen have given us to carry out. And we as republican and democrats work together and never never get into arguments and debates about whether this is good for a particular party, but it's good for the people. It's good for the state of Mississippi and it's good for economic development in the future.

And we take the money that's been given to us and invest it where it needs to be invested. So I wanna give thanks to the two commissioners who support me as their chairperson and we collectively who support each other in making sure that we take care of the state of Mississippi.

That's refreshing to hear. Absolutely. I mean piggybacking off of both of your points talking about everything pulling in the right direction and not letting things get us bogged down and then you talking about working across the aisles and working together. It's the culmination of both those things that make it effective, Being able to work together. Would just echo that appreciation.

I'm very grateful for this commission and the way that you all work together. Even in your disagreeances or times when you disagree on things, you all seem to find a way to come to an accord without sabotaging the other or doing things like that. Even you know moving projects around or policy decisions. Very much appreciate the working relationship that you guys have and it trickles down. You mentioned that the family aspect of MDOT.

It is, it really is. We talk about this almost every episode and again, we don't rehearse this part at all and you hear it every time. Time, the family atmosphere and pulling in the right direction. That starts with the leadership that you guys provide. We very much appreciate that.

You.

Thank you. Yeah.

Well the challenge for me is the in the political world, you're tempted to coast to be happy with the good things, because we do have so much going on. Sure. And, you know, when you're out there presenting your case to anyone, whether it's the legislators or the constituents, the community leaders, you do wanna accentuate the positive and tell them all you're doing and pat yourself on the back a little bit. Sure. And so our challenge with so much good going on is trying to lead the department and lead the state's transportation infrastructure forward, is trying to find where we're falling short.

Where do I fall short as a commissioner? And so I'm constantly trying to do the self check. Sure. And say, all right, that's great, but how many times am gonna break my arm, pat myself on the back? Let's move forward and let's see what we can do better.

Sure.

And that is encouraging when you see it continues to get better. We talked a little bit about the three year plan and we just approved that today in the final meeting. Every year, that three year plan gets better. And it's never gonna be a perfect document. It's almost a living, breathing document.

Not like the constitution, it changes. But at the same time, it's an important document and it gives us a baseline to work from. The one we just approved today is better than last year's.

Absolutely.

Last year's was better than the year before that.

And so if we continue to improve each year, whether it's on a document like that, or in a highway that maybe we didn't get every mile of highway and the constituents were saying, well, why'd you stop here? Because there's a pothole just beyond that line. That's where the money ran out. And so, thankfully, as commissioner brought up, we're getting more money and we just need to continue to make good use of it.

You know, in 2020 when Commissioner Caldwell and I was sworn in January 7, I believe it was. And our first few meetings that we had, we were not talking about doing any capacity projects. We had no capacity money. We weren't doing very much with maintenance because we had very little maintenance money. We were struggling when we were seeing a crisis in front of us.

We put our heads together and we started talking about doing things differently. We started talking about staff and getting the staff in the position of saying, we wanna look for ways of doing things as opposed to we can't because we don't have resources or we have a regulation or something that's keeping us from doing it. But let's have the attitude that if there's a need to do it, let's look for ways of doing that. And we started seeing a shift in the entire family mode of operation and where we was going and where we was needed to go. And then resources started coming in from the federal government as well as from the state legislation.

And now, we're doing capacitive projects, we're doing maintenance on our bridges, paving projects. And when you look at that, it really doesn't matter where you are in the state Of Mississippi. If you're traveling, you need to have some patience because we are at work carrying out progress and when you have progress in the infrastructure system, the system have to have patience to get to and where they're going because we have to shift traffic. Slow traffic down, and hold traffic up sometime. So we we just wanna say to the citizen, we're at work for you.

Say to the legislative body and to our fellow delegation, thank you so much, our fellow partner, the the US Department of Transportation. Thank all of you for working with us in moving the needle forward. And to the citizen, thank you for your support and your tax dollars is coming into us. But do be patient. We wanna make sure that we keep our employees and our contractors safe.

So when you're driving through those work zones, honor the speed limit and be patient where you're going so that we have no accidents or fatalities with our contractors and or employees. Great town in the state of Mississippi.

That's right.

No doubt. And, yeah, reiterate what you said. Put the phone down. You're going through a work zone. See people.

Why are people looking down at their phones while

Please. They're Yes, please.

No bueno. So let's drill down a little bit. I know every single project is important, but let's highlight some in both the Northern District and the Central District that maybe you think deserve a shout out shout outs.

Commissioner Caldwell gets all the money so I'm a yield to him.

Alright. There we go. There we go.

Sure.

Absolutely. And they wanna talk about the list. And they want you to rattle off those highways. And I'm very hesitant to do it for a lot of different reasons. Matter of fact, we did a groundbreaking recently for Highway 7 South Of Oxford going to the 97 Split, which we're very proud to be able to get that project underway and one of our capacity projects on an overcrowded highway that will see great results.

But in the meantime, going back to what Commissioner Simmons said, it's gonna be ugly for a little while, and people gotta realize they're driving through a construction zone, and so we need some patience. But I also suggested to some of the state senators and representatives there. Said, you sure we wanna do a groundbreaking? Because once you do and somebody says, oh, you're you're fixing Highway 7. What about eight?

What about six? What about four? What about 12? They all have good cases for so much that we have to have done. 15 is underway, and we talk a lot about the bypass on 15 going around Ripley, which is a huge project and years away from completion, it's underway.

But we just are on the verge of completing another segment of 15 that was Union County going from Ecrew into New Albany. And that project has quietly just been done ahead of schedule, and we're thankful to the contractors that made that happen. Absolutely. But those kind of things are great. And we got other projects that are coming, but it's a moving target.

So many times what we do is, okay, we've improved that road, but we got more to do. People used to be happy with a good grading on a gravel road. They wanted a hard packed surface and they wanted the chip seal and then after chip seal they wanted it paved and after they wanted it paved they wanted it striped and then they would need the lanes wider and then they need the shoulders better. Now they want the reflectors on the roads and the reflectors aren't good enough, so let's put some street lights up. But that's okay.

Sure. I mean, that's progress. So that moving target is something that we deal with every day, and we wanna make sure that we are looking as commissioners, not just to the next road, the next list, the next paving contract, that we get a lot of pats on the back for, and a lot of people say it's a thankless job, but we do have some people that say thank you. But we need to look further out, we need to look, what about ten years out, what about And thirty years that's where the staff here at MDOT is already ahead of us and doing those kind of things. And as long as we're looking ahead, then we have the good people doing the day to day, we'll have a lot more friendly conversations.

Love that. Yeah.

Know, when you think about the Mississippi Department of of Transportation, $1,400,000,000 budget now, which is an increase from where it was. And we are probably about 48% fell dollars and 52 or so state money with the new money's coming into Department of Transportation. But when you think about the projects in the Northern District, and I'm so grateful to have a friend like commissioner Caldwell who's leading the role in getting dollars into the infrastructure in the Northern District. But we're also pleased with what we see here in the Central District. And I'll start by saying Highway 49 South, we completed that project within the last four years.

And that is a fantastic project if you go into the Gulf Coast. The design on it and the way in which we're able to navigate and move the traffic is fantastic. Then up in the Mississippi Delta, Highway 82, a project that had been on the books for over twenty years and we were able to get a grant from the federal government. And then we added additional money, a total of a $216,000,000 project. And we did a ribbon cutting ceremony on it a couple months ago.

And it's flowing, the traffic is moving. Everybody's took a peek with it and happy. We just had a recent ribbon cutting ceremony up in Madison County, the Reunion Parkway, a continuing phase of that, which is going to be great and fantastic when we can get that project completed. And after commissioner Caldwell's project up on 55 in the Sole County, If the legislation give us money, we're going to move to completing that project here in Madison County, widening Interstate 55 in the interchange in that area. But also, going over into the East Mississippi, Philadelphia, Mississippi, Highway 19.

We are now in the final phase of getting Highway 19 full lane from Philadelphia over to Meridian. That's great for that particular region of the state. We have done some widening and lighting on Interstate 20 in Lauderdale Meridian, Mississippi. And then you come back into the Central District. We just had a ribbon cutting ceremony on the West Rankin Parkway Yep.

In Rankin County. A project has been going on since 2015. As a matter of fact, Senator Dean Kirby introduced the bill before I was in the Senate in 1992 to make that highway a state highway. And a couple weeks ago, we did a ribbon cutting ceremony where we actually opened it. That's going to open up traffic here in the Central District in and around Jackson.

That's going to give relief to Interstate 20 and Highway 80 and Highway 49 and do good for the businesses and connecting Pearl and Brandon together. So we flow with them. Sorry. So we are very very excited about what we're doing over on Interstate 20. We have a lot of work going on replacing six bridges at the Big Black River, which very much needed.

At the same time, we enhancing the Flowers Interchange. So we have traffic tied up a little bit, a few delays. That's the patience that I talked about earlier because we're making progress. And then we're getting ready to overlay the section of Interstate 20 from Highway 18 over to Clinton. Here in Jackson, we have improved the interstate system by doing some work on the bridge on the I 55 at Pearl River.

And we are working on our lighting system. You may have heard us today talking about the lighting system and the study that's going on with Garvin. We ask the systems to be patient with us. We know it's a little uncomfortable with the darkness, but we also have had issue with people stealing our copper. And hopefully, with this study and the new lighting system that we just completed on Interstate 20 from the stack over the Highway 18, we're gonna have Jackson, Mississippi looking beautiful with more lights and increasing the trash pickup in the Jackson area where we're picking up trash now during the winter months.

Jackson, we're on the way to becoming a beautiful city as well as a city that's gonna have lights. So we're encouraging you to keep it clean by not putting trash on the ground.

You got it. You got it.

Amen. Yeah. No. Absolutely. If we can get folks to stop stealing our copper wire, we'll be rocking and rolling out there.

Yes. But I mean one of the things, look, just quickly to mention this, throw it out there. Because it is new and exciting. The new lighting system will have a notification system along with it. So that you know, in instance that the copper line or the electricity is cut to that particular node, if you will, it immediately notifies our crews and we can contact law enforcement.

Fingers crossed that will be the solution that carries us over the hump.

Well, we're looking forward to Galva completing that study and the final work that was given to them today. We've asked the staff to expedite that, to move it as fast as possible so we can get a contract on the ground to put that system in place.

That may be, you know, we're gonna lead into here things you're most looking forward to the next year. I mean, that might be it for the Central District. I know there's lots of good stuff to be be had to in the works, but boy, I'm looking forward to the lighting being done. It just seems like it's one that's been talked about for so long, you

know. Most definitely.

But, again, with that, Commissioner Caldwell, obviously either one of you guys can jump right in there on this answer, but with all the success and identifying the needs, know, as you mentioned, you travel in the state, look at so many things. We are completing a lot of things, but there is always that next thing. Anything that you're most looking forward to next year project wise? Doesn't have to be in no certain

No, like I said, the big ones get the attention certainly in my neighborhood, my backyard, I-fifty 5 is one that we're definitely looking forward to seeing hit the the contract.

It's got a lot of people up there.

Yeah. So, you know, you're you're we are prioritizing the big ones. Sure. And that's what you have to do. But I'd like to see and and I think the commission has been working in this direction, the staff has been working in this direction.

The smaller operational projects, whether it's a bridge improvement or an intersection improvement, trying to spread that love around is important. Sure. Because it's one thing if you spend several $100,000,000 on one big project. And that's good, and it's gonna help a big crowd of people on those high traffic roads. But if you start looking around the state, and you have the smaller communities that are not left out, but their needs are piling up.

So we have some intersection improvements that we need to do. They're little smaller projects. We're doing some bridge improvements that we need to do. But when we do the big ones, they're smaller contractors saying, hey, we can't bid on a $300,000,000 project. And we're bridge builders in this state, we need a little love.

Sure. The asphalt pavers are getting a little bit of work, and so we're very, very proud of that, that's good. But we have some road builders that are, look, we need some medium sized We need some smaller projects. And we need the whole gamut. We can't do either or.

We need to do both and. And I think we're working in that direction. Again, that's what I said when we first started. The encouragement of everybody pulling in the same direction has been huge. And so I think you'll continue to see improvements.

And you will see the big projects like Madison County, I-fifty 5 and 20 and Warren County. You'll see some of that big stuff that gets a lot of press, but I think you'll start seeing more of the small and medium sized projects start happening as well and that'll be a good thing.

All for it.

2026, gonna be a great year and I'm excited to the legislature. We thank you for what you did in 2025 and we would like for you to act on getting rid of the of for the lottery money. The commission, we have committed to $80,000,000 to paving two lane highways. We've done a lot of work in the area, but we still have a lot of work to do. So we wanna continue to know that we have those dollars coming in and we can commit them to the paving that needs to be done on those two lane highways.

So that's one of the things that we wanna see happen in addition to that, when we continue to have those lottery dollars coming in and the new money, as commissioner Caldwell indicated, all of the state of Mississippi in this central district, all 22 counties, we anticipate continuing to pay projects and to work on our bridges to make sure that we don't have any failed bridges in the system that are posted, and we can't get cargo in the citizen too and where they need to go. And then some of the big projects that we wanna make sure get done. Interstate 55, Madison County. That project needs to be completed because of the growth that you see going on in Madison County and up and down in in the region along Interstate 55, you know, having the data centers located in Madison County. Energy is putting a new facility there and other things happening.

So it's important that we get Interstate 55, that project completed. And hopefully, we'll get money from the legislation to help us do that over the next couple years. And then Warren County, we have one of the most un safe interchange system in the state or in the nation for the most part. When you look at Vicksburg, Mississippi. So, we wanna start putting dollars into taking care of that.

So, once again, we can get big projects like that going and continue to do the paving that we're doing all across the state and complete some of those projects that I mentioned earlier. Like Highway 49, the $35,000,000 grant that we received from the fellow government. And that project is almost completed and we'll be added to that. So once again, I am so grateful to have the family. Starting with the commissioners and Brad White, the CEO, and the 2,700 plus employees and the contractors who work so closely with us to make it happen.

But by us having the resources that we can plan, it also help them plan so that they are ready to move on projects when we are ready to award those projects.

That's that's awesome. That's really good stuff and commissioner Simmons you mentioned earlier the historic funding that we received during the 2025 session and then a few other legislative items. So really to both of you, the 2026 session is really days away. Any other legislative priorities that either of you have?

I don't.

Be good good legislators. I served in the senate for twenty six years, and I know it's not good for me as a part of the executive branch to try and tell the legislators what to do. Sure. Just continue to be good stewards and send us the money. No.

You continue to be good appropriators and and send us the we will be good stewards and allocate it appropriately to get it where it needs to go. So, once again, thank you, legislators for what you have done.

Absolutely.

Yeah. Our legislators has has have been huge pieces to our success. I mean, we we we get a lot of credit that is their due, and we do appreciate them. As far as priorities go for me, and I know the other commissioners believe this as well. They they may not scream as loud as I may scream in January, but we need the legislature to find a way to have our lowest paid workers not be down at $13 an hour.

Sure. And we've done a lot to get there. I mean, I think when when we got here, commissioner Simmons, I think the lowest paid workers were at $10 an hour. So 30% increase is great. Sure.

But 30%, if you were making a 100,000 a year, goes up to a 130,000 a year. That's significant. If you're making $10 an hour and your 30% increase takes you to 13, then you may not have covered your insurance insurance increase.

You'd be waiting for that next 30%.

Yeah. Yeah. So we're we need to find a way to to help the the newest workers. I think our existing long term workers have some seniority built up, and their and their pay increases have been significant and everybody always would like to see more, but that particular lowest level new hire pay rate is so low, we can't fix that as commissioners without some legislative help. We're not expecting them to write blank checks for us this year.

At the same time, what we can do is give us the authority to to get that low pay scale either increased or eliminated. Just do away with that low scale and

That's

right. We'll Yeah. Just start with the next scale as our as our lowest version. And

I love that.

But, anyway, I think that's probably one that I'm I'm gonna spend a lot of time talking over a couple of Cokes and iced tea over. That's right.

I love that.

Cherry worthy.

With all the action and involvement we had in this past session as you mentioned commissioners, it will be nice to sort of not be the center of attention, limelight for maybe a session. I think I'll be quite alright with that. Look, I love both of those things. Exciting times coming ahead. 2025 has been an awesome year.

Certainly done a lot, accomplished a lot of things as a commissioner in MDOT. 2026, lots of things you all are looking forward to. We're all very excited about. Before we get out of here, just last personal. You can certainly be professional if you want, but personal, a new year's resolution from either of you.

You got anything that you're focused on working on?

You wanna go first or last? Less. Alright. For me, I don't typically do New Year's resolutions. Sure.

But as I watch other people make them, can't help but kind of steer myself and say, I'm not gonna make that resolution, but what can I do to improve? Sure. And so my physical health is one that I'm I'd like to see myself take a little better care of myself in in the physical side. Spiritual side, I'd like to see myself, take a few more steps in the right direction and stop coasting. Know?

Sure. I'm probably guilty of coasting in the spiritual side and certainly the physical as well. So those are probably my two big ones for 2026.

I'm right there with you.

That's great.

And I know I'm gonna make them. So it's hard for me to come up with words to say. So I'm gonna do something simple and just say that I am going to make a new year's resolution to work harder for the citizens of the state of Mississippi and the employees of the Department of Transportation.

Love it. Don't know if that's possible. We're both working so hard. That's right. Hey.

Before we get out of here, let's let's throw this question. I wanna throw it at you, Will. What's your Year's resolution?

Oh gosh. To be honest with you, think I'm right there with commissioner Caldwell. I have baby number three on the way. I'll also be Congratulations. I know.

Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate it. Be turning 35 next year, so I'm gonna have to get focused on that physical fitness a little bit more. Bend it down and picking up the kids already.

I can feel the hamstrings burning by bending over too much trying to get them off the ground. Yeah, probably a little bit of that physical and certainly spiritual. I can always do better on that.

That's good stuff for sure. Mine, I'll go ahead and throw it out there, know, be more present. Everyone's on their cell phones these days. In our line of work, it's hard to put them down but, you know, try to be a little more present in 2026. Listen, commissioners, thank you so much for making time for us and I don't think anybody can watch or listen to this episode and not come to the conclusion that both of you and Commissioner Busby work incredibly hard for the taxpayers of Mississippi.

So, thank you for everything that you do.

Thank you so much for having us and you have a Merry Christmas.

Thank you for having us and let me say Merry Christmas to my colleagues. Commissioner Busby, Ian is absent, Commissioner Caldwell, and thank you for being such a great team player. Thank you all.

Awesome. Teamwork makes the dream work here at MDOT. We will wrap up 2025 on the Extra Mile podcast. Thank you to all of our listeners, our viewers that tuned in this year. You can follow us on social media at Mississippi DOT is the handle.

Watch and listen to episodes. Gom..com forward slash the extra mile. Thank you to Drew Hall, our behind the scenes man who makes everything happen for us. Remember, during the holidays, during Christmas, drive smart out there on Mississippi highways.