Saturday, Nov. 14, marks one year since traffic started crossing Interstate 55 on the Reunion Parkway bridge. It still has no ramps onto the interstate. The Madison County Journal reported that the $31 million parkway would open around 3 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 14, 2025, linking Bozeman Road to U.S. 51. In that same story, Madison County Engineer Tim Bryan said the next major step, an access ramp to the interstate, depended on the Mississippi Department of Transportation widening I-55.
That dependence is the key to everything since. The ramps are not their own project. They are one line in a roughly $188 million interstate job, so they had to wait for the money and the bidding on the whole job. The fix that finally brought the price down also shapes what the next few years on I-55 will be like for anyone driving out of Reunion.
The Ramps Come With Six Lanes
The project MDOT bid this fall widens I-55 from four lanes to six between the Mississippi 463 and Gluckstadt Road exits. It also adds interstate lighting and builds the ramps at Reunion Parkway, WLBT reported. MDOT's bid documents also include a mill-and-overlay on about 0.77 miles of I-55 north of Gluckstadt Road. MDOT says about 70,000 drivers use this stretch every day.
The funding came together in steps. In April 2026, the Madison County Journal reported that the Legislature approved $150 million in highway capacity funds to widen I-55 from Madison to Gluckstadt, with new ramps to "the recently completed Reunion Parkway bridge." Legislative notes said another $25 million would be needed before work could start. That $150 million came through House Bill 1938 and also covers a separate Highway 25 widening in Rankin County. MDOT added federal highway funds to cover the cost, according to WLBT.
Two Rounds of Bids, Two Very Different Gaps
The first time MDOT opened bids, on Aug. 25, 2026, all three came in far above the state's estimate. MDOT re-advertised the job, and new bids opened Oct. 27. Here is what MDOT's own bid tabulations show for each round.
| August 25, 2026 letting | October 27, 2026 re-letting | |
|---|---|---|
| MDOT estimate | $132,117,148.65 | $179,163,056.40 |
| Low bid | W.G. Yates & Sons, $195,952,648.70 | T.L. Wallace Construction, $187,725,441.40 |
| Second bid | Hemphill Construction, $208,867,889.53 | W.G. Yates & Sons, $193,158,658.00 |
| Third bid | Necaise Brothers, $284,032,160.00 | Necaise Brothers, $202,217,715.43 |
Sources: the August tabulation and the October tabulation, both published by MDOT.
The table shows how the gap closed. The low bid fell by about $8.2 million between rounds, a figure an MDOT official also gave to WLBT. The state's estimate went up by about $47 million. In August, the low bid was roughly 48 percent above the estimate. In October, T.L. Wallace's bid was 4.78 percent above it. MDOT Executive Director Brad White told WLBT the Federal Highway Administration lets a project move forward when bids come within 10 percent of the estimate.
In other words, the contractors' prices came down a little and the state's estimate came up a lot. White put it plainly in WLBT's Oct. 29 report:
"Those are big price tags for these types of projects, but the cost of doing business has gone up."
He added that the three October bids were close together, which gave MDOT confidence in the price.
The Changes That Got It Done Will Shape the Drive
Between rounds, MDOT did not cut anything from the finished project. "None of the final result has changed," White told WLBT on Oct. 21. "What will change is more the manner in which we deliver it." Engineers rewrote the specifications to reward contractors who finish early and to allow more overnight work.
Those two changes are what Reunion drivers will notice. White said much of the work will happen at night, and the contract includes other provisions meant to limit the impact on drivers. MDOT has not yet released lane-closure details. He described the corridor as an active work zone, with crews working a few feet from moving traffic, and urged drivers to "put their phone down, pay attention to what they're doing, drive reasonably."
The early-finish incentive also shows up in the schedule. When MDOT announced the rebid, WLBT reported White's estimate of about four years of work, finishing around summer 2030. After the October bids came in, he called it "probably about a three-year project." He noted that bidders proposed fewer days than MDOT's original contract allowed, though he did not expect the finish date to move much. "A project of this magnitude is really hard to see something finish months earlier, but you can play around with the weeks," he told WLBT.
The Calendar From Here
Each step below has a date MDOT has given publicly:
- Oct. 27, 2026. Three bids opened. T.L. Wallace Construction Inc. of Columbia was low at about $187.7 million.
- Nov. 10, 2026. The low bid was set to go to the Mississippi Transportation Commission after a review by MDOT's bid committee. White said he expected the commission "to accept the low bid and to move forward with the project."
- Notice to proceed. Once the commission acts, MDOT issues a notice to proceed. White said construction would "probably start in March or spring of this coming year."
- Spring 2027. Cones go up between the 463 and Gluckstadt Road exits.
- Around summer 2030. The finish MDOT estimated in October. White said bidders' shorter schedules could shave weeks, not months.
What the Interchange Is Drawn to Look Like
The bridge was designed with ramps in mind from the start. Waggoner, the engineering firm Madison County hired to design Reunion Parkway Segment 2, describes it as a 1.2-mile boulevard from Bozeman Road to Parkway East, with four travel lanes, a multi-use path and the bridge over I-55. The firm also did preliminary design for a "future diamond interchange with a single loop ramp" so the county could set right-of-way plans, according to its Reunion Interchange project page. The land for the ramps was planned before the bridge was built. That design is labeled preliminary, so the final ramp layout will be shown in MDOT's construction plans.
Bozeman Road Wraps Up First
For Reunion households that use the west side of the bridge, the county's Bozeman Road work should be finished before the interstate work hits full speed. In April 2026, engineers told the Madison County Board of Supervisors that Bozeman Road Phase One, from Highway 463 to Reunion Parkway, was about 65 percent complete and on schedule, with closeout expected in spring 2027, WLBT reported. In May, WJTV reported a traffic shift onto the new Bozeman Road lanes through Old Mannsdale Road, along with a new traffic signal there. County engineers said bids for Phase Two would go out soon after Phase One is done, with construction possibly starting in early 2027.
That puts spring 2027 on the calendar twice. Bozeman Road Phase One is scheduled to close out around the same time MDOT expects the first I-55 cones near Reunion Parkway.
If you're weighing a move into or out of Reunion while the ramps are under construction, Bowie & Co. Real Estate can walk you through how the work schedule fits your timing, from the first cones to the day the ramps open. Schedule a Consultation, and we'll keep you posted as MDOT releases lane-closure details.
