The Mississippi State Highway System is a network of roads that are maintained by the

Mississippi Department of Transportation The Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT) is the organization in charge of developing and maintaining all state and federal roadways in the U.S. state of Mississippi. In addition to highways, the department also has a limited role in sup ...

(MDOT). This network includes

Interstate The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National Highway System in the United States. Th ...

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, and state highways.

Highway systems

Interstate highways

There are nine interstate highways within the state of Mississippi. This includes six primary interstates and three auxiliary interstates. The longest interstate is

I-55 Interstate 55 (I-55) is a major Interstate Highway in the central United States. As with most primary Interstates that end in a five, it is a major cross-country, north–south route, connecting the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes. The h ...

, and the shortest interstate is

I-110 Interstate 110 may refer to: *Interstate 110 and State Route 110 (California), Interstate 110 (California), a north–south freeway running through Los Angeles, California *Interstate 110 (Florida), a spur route in Pensacola, Florida *Interstate 1 ...

U.S. routes

In the state of Mississippi, there are 14 U.S. highways. The longest is

US 49 U.S. Route 49 (US 49) is a north–south United States highway. The highway's northern terminus is in Piggott, Arkansas, at an intersection with US Route 62/ Highway 1/ Highway 139 (US 62/AR 1/AR 139). Its southern terminus ...

, and the shortest being

US 425 U.S. Route 425 (US 425) is a north–south United States highway that travels in the U.S. states of Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas. It was first commissioned in 1989. The route's northern terminus is in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, at a ...

Mississippi highways

State highways in Mississippi have different numbering schemes. The primary highways are numbered from 1-76, and most three-digit numbered routes are numbered by region (300s in the northernmost part of the state, 600 in the southernmost). Three-digit numbered routes from 700s to 900s are usually short connectors and spurs.

Other highways

Natchez Trace Parkway starts in

Natchez Natchez may refer to: Places * Natchez, Alabama, United States * Natchez, Indiana, United States * Natchez, Louisiana, United States * Natchez, Mississippi, a city in southwestern Mississippi, United States * Grand Village of the Natchez, a site o ...

and ends at

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and ...

. The parkway is maintained by the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propert ...

History

In 1928, Mississippi Governor Theodore G. Bilbo appointed

Horace Stansel Horace Sylvan Stansel (November 5, 1888 – April 4, 1936) was an American civil engineer and politician, remembered chiefly as the original architect of Mississippi's highway system. He served in the Mississippi House of Representatives includ ...

head of a committee to investigate the state's highway needs. Stansel submitted an act to create a state highway system to the state legislature in 1930. Since then, Mississippi has gradually expanded its highway system. Until 1987, there were but two major four-lane highways in Mississippi, not counting the Interstates, which were built during the 1960s and 1970s: U.S. Highway 49 (US 49) from

Yazoo City Yazoo City is a U.S. city in Yazoo County, Mississippi. It was named after the Yazoo River, which, in turn was named by the French explorer Robert La Salle in 1682 as "Rivière des Yazous" in reference to the Yazoo tribe living near the river's ...

to Gulfport and

US 82 U.S. Route 82 (US 82) is an east–west United States highway in the Southern United States. Created on July 1, 1931 across central Mississippi and southern Arkansas, US 82 eventually became a 1,625-mile (2,615 km) route extending from ...

between Greenville and Winona. Things changed when the state legislature launched the $1.3 billion Four-Lane Highway Program of 1987. This program gradually allowed for the funding of over of four-lane highway statewide. In 2002, the Four-Lane Highway Program was expanded in what was known as Vision 21. MDOT was not created until 1992; this organization consolidated several services that already existed.

References

{{US state highways