Clinton Parkway, Clinton, Mississippi

Client: City of Clinton

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Founded in the early nineteenth century at the junction of the Natchez Trace and the Old Vicksburg Road, Clinton is known for its beautiful brick Victorian homes. Although the people of Clinton recognized the need for a new north-south corridor through their historic city, they made it very clear that the last thing they wanted was a slab of concrete poured down its center. That’s why they turned to ABMB to develop a cost-effective design for a one-mile roadway linking Springridge Road with Northside Drive and the Natchez Trace Parkway.

ABMB took a close look at the issues involved. We were able to confirm that a new north/south arterial street would indeed remedy traffic congestion. It would also speed the response times of emergency response agencies and accommodate future growth and economic development in the community.

ABMB also had the right combination of in-house skills—in surveying, traffic engineering, site civil, and bridge and highway design—to broaden the discussion, giving Clinton’s leadership a variety of viable alternatives from which to choose. We performed the preliminary engineering to establish alternate alignments, analyzed existing and future traffic conditions, evaluated alternate bridge types for a grade separated railroad crossing, and assessed drainage conditions. We also prepared an environmental assessment and Section 4(f) evaluation for each alignment, and commissioned extensive historical and archaeological studies.

In designing the project, ABMB engineers demonstrated that it is possible to combine technical mastery with a regard for beauty. This is clearly evident in the 800-foot bridge we designed that spans the Kansas City Southern Railroad and a city park. ABMB chose a Type IV-AASHTO girder superstructure for economic reasons. For aesthetics, we specified brick inlays for the flared columns, the bent capbeams, the abutment faces and wingwalls, and for other areas of the structure. We also chose lighting with a period flavor to be used along the roadway and on the bridge.

We like to think that no good turn goes unappreciated. ABMB won an Engineering Excellence Honor Award from the American Council of Engineering Companies—Mississippi for its work on the project.

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