Bulldog Way is a new road in progress on Mississippi State University’s campus that connects East Lee Boulevard to Blackjack Road.
Construction has been underway for months for this multiple-phase project. Phase one of the project was to create a road from East Lee Boulevard to lead behind the Commuter East parking lots to The Social Campus and Campus Trails apartments.
MSU Associate Vice President for Administration Les Potts said an east connector road, like Bulldog Way, has been a part of MSU’s master plans since the 1960s. The concept has been floating around the departments for decades, but due to the previous issues with pedestrian safety, there was a push now more than ever to complete this road.
“When you do a road like this, taking traffic out of the core of campus and improving the signalization and making it well lit, it makes it pedestrian, transit and bicycle friendly,” Potts said.
Phase two of the project is currently underway. The plan for this phase is to renovate the entrance to The Social Campus and Campus Trails. This entrance is currently under construction, so traffic uses Bulldog Way to enter the apartment complexes. Some residents find this to be an inconvenience. Parker Manley is a senior marketing major who lives at The Social Campus and is new to driving on campus.
“Instead of taking Blackjack, I am having to drive on campus constantly when I am not really used to driving on campus,” Manley said. “Like today, I had to use my GPS to get into town. I’ve never driven on campus; I have walked every single day. It is really difficult for me to have to learn the streets of campus.”
Taylor Conn works for Burns Dirt Construction, the contractor for the Bulldog Way project. Conn says the completion of Blackjack was vital.
“When we first got the plans, we were called just to put in a concrete driveway right there. Well then the other project Bulldog Way started, so until it could be finished, we put in a temporary access drive right there until it could be redone,” Conn said. 
According to Potts, this project has been a complex one. This is not an Oktibbeha County project but an MSU one. The funding for the construction was given to MSU through the TIGER Grant, which gave the university $10 million.
The National Department of Transportation awards the TIGER grant. This grant has specific qualifications to receive it. Some of the qualifications consider the size of the community, what the project will yield and what benefits it would give to the community and the students.
Potts said the university has only spent about half a million dollars of its own money towards the project.
Another new addition to the Bulldog Way and East Lee connection is a stoplight in place of a four-way stop. Potts said the stoplight intends to make traffic flow easier for pedestrians and vehicles during congested times. The university conducted traffic studies at this intersection, and they found a stoplight would be the most efficient.
Bulldog Way also offers other exits to Commuter East parking lots. Roads surrounding the T.K. Martin building on campus became congested, so providing more than just one exit to these parking lots will help decongest Hardy Road, Potts said.
The construction has also included new sidewalks and new paths for residents of the apartment complexes to walk to and from campus safely.
Lastly, phase three of the project is a plan to decongest traffic coming in from Blackjack Road onto Hardy Road. In recent months, vehicle and pedestrian conflicts have been a push to clear up the traffic on Hardy Road.
“I think this has really played into our sense of urgency. OK, let’s get this done, even though the road was already in progress. But the safety aspect, I think, really doubled the effort,” Potts said.
Construction is set to continue into the summer and is on track to finish in the fall.

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Kathryn Beatty | The Reflector

The entrances to The Social Campus and Campus Trails are blocked off for construction.