County Engineer presents Ridge Road Project update

During Tuesday’s meeting of the Pearl River County Board of Supervisors, County Engineer Les Dungan presented an overview on the history and current status of the Ridge Road project which was asked for in the January 2nd board meeting by Board Vice President Hudson Holliday.

Holliday had stated during the previous board meeting that he wanted to set the record straight once and for all on Ridge Road related stories and accusations that had been propagated on social media primarily by three county residents, Frank Egger, Jeff Smith, and Richard Crawford. Holliday had the three individuals subpoenaed to appear at Tuesday’s meeting. Smith and Crawford were present, but Egger was not in attendance at the meeting.

Les Dungan (standing) presents the overall status of the Ridge Road project

In opening, Dungan stated, “The Ridge Road project began prior to 2005. It began when both Pearl River County and Picayune officials recognizing the need for improvements to traffic flow and safety along the Wal-Mart (frontage road) road and better access to the Picayune airport. Both of those issues were seen by the officials at that time as limiting economic development and the airport was viewed, and is still viewed today, has having great potential for economic development in Pearl River County.”

Dungan stated that the City of Picayune and Pearl River County officials worked together with their federal representation in Washington to secure funding for the project and in 2006, the Ridge Road project was included in an appropriations bill. He said the bill provided $1 million dollars, which was 80 percent federal and 20 percent state funds with no local money ap