The East Mississippi Electric Power Association auditorium was filled with opponents and supporters of the widening of North Hills Street Monday, where a public hearing on the proposed project was held.

If the project goes forward, the street will be widened to five lanes — two lanes each of East and West bound traffic and one center turn lane — along a 0.6 mile stretch from 10th Avenue to Highway 39. A "fully actuated traffic signal" will be installed at 10th Avenue, Country Club Drive will be redirected to intersect with 10th Avenue, and the traffic signal at North Hills Street and Highway 39 will be modified.

There are three possibilities for the North Hills Street project. One is that the project does not happen at all. At Monday's public hearing, comments were taken from homeowners who live on or near the proposed area of construction. The comments will be sent to the Mississippi Department of Transportation, to determine whether or not to go forward with the project, according to Meridian Mayor John Robert Smith.

Another possibility is that the project goes forward according to MDOT recommendations. This would mean that each of the five lanes constructed would be 12 feet wide, with a six foot paved shoulder on either side of the street. This design would support at 45 mile per hour speed limit.

What the city is calling it's "preferred alternate" is a modification of the MDOT recommended model. In the city's model, the five lanes of traffic will each be 11 feet wide, and there will be no shoulder. The "preferred alternate," which would support a 40 mile per hour speed limit, must be approved by MDOT before going forward.

If the project goes forward, the property-buying phase could begin in six to nine months, Smith said. The project will be funded with a combination of city, state, and federal funds, totaling three to four million dollars, Smith said.

Opinions were divided at the hearing between homeowners who said they hated the traffic of North Hills Street and had a hard time turning onto the street, and those who said the traffic was not bad and who did not want their property infringed upon by a widening of the road. Some of the homeowners also worried that the layout of the new road could create a bottleneck effect near 10th Avenue.

Smith said that the project takes into account a probable future increase in traffic caused by developments further up and down the area in question, including two new subdivisions to be constructed on 10th Avenue.

Mark Bailey, an engineer for Neel-Schaffer, the company that performed the preliminary environmental assessment for the project, said that would be possible for bottlenecking to occur at 10th Avenue, but that it would be prevented by signage and turn only lanes, and would be unlikely to occur often.

Still, many homeowners, like Marie Bolen, who owns a home on the corner of North Hills Street and Windover Circle, feel that the project will be more of a hindrance on them than a help. Bolen said the project will cut down her 60-year-old trees and 6 foot Camellia bushes, which serve as a noise barrier between her home and the street, will cause drainage problems with the creek that runs across her yard, and greatly reduce the value of her property.

Bailey said that some trees will indeed be lost, but that the project will attempt to replace them. Smith said that curbs and gutters will be installed to deal with drainage problems.

Smith also said that property owners will be compensated for loss of value to their property, and that MDOT will determine loss of value by appraising property before and after construction.

There were North Hills residents at the meeting, like former Meridian Community College Instructor Steve Owen, who said they look forward to the change. It's about time, they said, that the traffic, the difficulty turning, and other problems with North Hills Street were addressed.

Neel-Schaffer will continue to accept comments from residents who have property on or adjacent to the proposed North Hills Widening Project for the next 10 days, according to Bailey. Comments, which must include a name, address, and phone number or e-mail address, can be sent to Neel-Schaffer, Inc., Attn: Mark Bailey, Project Manager, P.O. Box 22625, Jackson, Miss., 39225-2625.