[7/27/03]Interstate 20 through Vicksburg and Warren County needs to be made straighter and rebuilt to make it safer, Central District Highway Commissioner Dick Hall said.

Hall was commenting on state statistics that show, in the first half of 2003, the number of fatal traffic accidents on the 17-mile stretch from the Mississippi River bridge to the Hinds County line at the Big Black River has doubled from 2002.

“It doesn’t matter how wide or safe an interstate is, the driver still has to use good judgment,” Hall said.

No fatalities were recorded on the stretch in 2001, two fatal wrecks were recorded in 2002 and, as of last week, four wrecks had killed six people this year.

In 2001, 161 wrecks were recorded on the interstate, and 183 were recorded last year. The figures for 2003 had not been counted, said Ron Sennett at the office of Highway Safety, who released the statistics.

Hall said the Mississippi Department of Transportation is planning a complete reworking of the interstate through Warren County, but he’s not optimistic it will happen soon.

“The interstate needs attention sooner than others, but we’ll do that when we get $100 million,” he said. The state of Mississippi is facing a multimillion-dollar shortfall in its budget, and legislators continue to place public education at the top for funding.

Meanwhile, drivers and those charged with watching them will have to cope.

Mississippi Highway Patrol Trooper Sgt. George Carr and four other troopers who live in Vicksburg patrol highways and respond to wrecks. He agrees with Hall that ultimate responsibility for wrecks lies with drivers.

“It doesn’t matter if the highway is five lanes wide or not, you have to take care of yourself and pay attention,” Carr said.

“People are too busy trying to get to where they want to go and not taking time for safety,” he said.

Shirley Waring, a Vicksburg Realtor, said she avoids the local interstate whenever possible.

“I take the back way whenever I can, wherever I’m going,” she said.

“I’m concerned about all the heavy commercial traffic,” Waring said. “They seem to blast through here and not realize they’re going through a business area that’s more congested.”

The east-and-west I-20, which opened in Warren County about 35 years ago, replaced U.S. 80 as the main thoroughfare through the area. In that time, the number of vehicles traveling I-20 and highways across the nation has boomed.

The six people killed in wrecks along the interstate in Warren County included two young sisters traveling to a school band event, a Georgia man towing a van, a Vicksburg husband and wife and most recently, a 71-year-old Vicksburg man returning from work in Jackson.