FLOWOOD, Miss. (AP) - The Latest on a road near the Mississippi lieutenant governor’s neighborhood (all times local):
5:15 p.m.
The Mississippi Department of Transportation is putting the brakes on a plan to build a $2 million access road to a gated subdivision where Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves lives.
Transportation commissioners say they made the decision during conversations Tuesday. It happened after the Clarion Ledger reported that department Executive Director Melinda McGrath said there was political pressure to build the road in the Jackson suburb of Flowood.
McGrath wouldn’t say who was pressuring her other than to say “the Senate side.” Republican Reeves leads the state Senate.
Records show Reeves’ staff and neighborhood property owners communicated with the department about the road.
Commissioner Dick Hall says he and his colleagues will evaluate the need for the road. Commissioner Tom King says there is no safety reason to support building it.
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2 a.m.
Mississippi’s road-building agency says “political pressure” is why it’s building a $2 million access road to a gated subdivision where Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves lives.
Mississippi Department of Transportation Executive Director Melinda McGrath tells the Clarion Ledger her department wouldn’t otherwise be constructing the frontage road in suburban Rankin County.
McGrath wouldn’t say who was pressuring her other than to say “the Senate side.”
Records show Reeves’ staff and neighborhood property owners communicated with the department about the road.
Reeves declined to be interviewed. A spokeswoman for the lieutenant governor says the city of Flowood and the state negotiated the project.
Flowood Mayor Gary Rhoads says he knows of no pressure from Reeves to build the road. But records show the homeowners association opposed a cheaper option Flowood once supported.
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Information from: The Clarion Ledger, http://www.clarionledger.com
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