The Mississippi Department of Transportation is urging holidaytravelers to be careful when they pass through construction zonesand to expect possible delays in construction areas.

There will be no active construction occurring across most ofthe state from this week so that workers can celebrate the holidayswith their families, said Darrell Broome, MDOT project engineer forthe Southern District.

Also, he added, work was postponed because of heavy holidaytraffic.

“We’re going to have extremely limited activity because we knowthere will be a lot of traffic,” Broome said. “We’ve urged them tobe extremely cautious when they do have work to do and we encouragetravelers to be patient and careful.”

Major construction is ongoing in the district in three primaryareas, Broome said. Those areas are U.S. Highway 84 in LawrenceCounty, the Mississippi River bridge at Natchez, and U.S. Highway49 in Collins.

It is possible some construction may be ongoing on Highway 84this week, but it would be minor, he said.

“There is a possibility they may have to do a little work onHighway 84 in some limited areas,” Broome said. “There shouldn’t beany traffic delays on that project. The work isn’t on the existinghighway 84.”

The Highway 84 Bypass project is approximately 25 percentcomplete, Broome said, and work continues on the Pearl River Bridgeand on grading the highway.

Some lane closures are in place at the Highway 49 overpassproject at Collins, however, and travelers may experience sometraffic delays there, he said.

Workers will be in the median behind barriers, but equipment hasto move in and out of the median. The limited construction activityand lane closures may delay traffic.

Broome reminded motorists that even when workers are notpresent, a work zone is still a work zone and traffic laws shouldbe observed.

“We do ask that they observe the posted speed limits and beaware of the movements of the workers because it is a congestedarea,” he said.

He also asked that motorists watch out for barrels, cones andheavy equipment.