HATTIESBURG — After years of sewer backups, flooding and road deterioration, residents along West Seventh Street in Hattiesburg are finally seeing progress.

In March, the city of Hattiesburg launched the West Seventh Street Rehabilitation Project to address long-standing infrastructure issues and improve the quality of life for those who live and travel through the area.

The project is part of a broader effort to modernize the city’s aging systems and reduce the burden on neighborhoods that have endured what residents like Marvin Travis call unsafe and unreliable conditions.

He described frequent flooding and backups that have affected his property and daily routine for years.

“The water and sewer, especially the water when it rained — it floods everything out here,” Travis said. “(It) comes all up in your yard, and since they’ve been working on this here water system, toilets and bathtubs have been backing up.”

While he supports the project’s goals, Travis said the construction has added new challenges. He regularly washes his vehicles and sprays down his yard to control the dust from construction. He said he’s eager for the work to wrap up.

Keith Johnson, another resident, echoed those concerns. He has lived in the area for more than a year and said he understands the need for improvement but questions the pace.

“It seems like it’s taking a long time because some days they’re not even here,” Johnson said. “They’re in other places in town.”

Why the work is needed — and why it takes time

Hattiesburg Mayor Toby Barker said the city has long received complaints about the condition of West Seventh Street, particularly its poor drainage and recurring road damage. He said he acknowledges the growing pains of such a major infrastructure overhaul.

“Anytime there’s a sewer or water project, it’s a pain. It’s messy. Once you lay the new sewer line, you have to give it time to settle because if you don’t, (if) you pave it immediately, you’ll have this dip in the road that appears after a few months,” Barker said. “So, it’s going to be a painful project in terms of just having to drive over some really bad roadway once we lay the sewer line.”

Barker added that the city has already completed work on other parts of West Seventh Street and that this phase is another step in a long-term plan.

“If that water collects there for a day or two, over time, it’s going to erode the roadway,” Barker explained. “We’ve done other work along West Seventh — whether it’s near campus or whether

it’s closer to (U.S.) 49 — with that sewer project. And so, this is kind of the next step in trying to sort of totally rehabilitate the roadway on West Seventh Street.”

According to the city’s website, the project involves the replacement of aging pipelines, upgrades to water mains, improvements to drainage systems and enhancements to sidewalks for pedestrian safety.

“Ultimately, that stretch of West Seventh Street, which is one of the oldest roads in our city, will (have) brand new infrastructure,” Barker said.

The project — which also includes work on Eupora, Montague and McLaurin streets — costs approximately $3.78 million. It’s funded primarily through the Mississippi Municipality and County Water Infrastructure grant and money Hattiesburg secured through the American Rescue Plan Act for infrastructure improvements across the city.

Crews are currently working around the West Seventh and Montague intersection. Construction is scheduled to be completed by spring 2026, depending on weather conditions.

Other infrastructure projects in progress

The West Seventh project is just one of many infrastructure upgrades happening across Hattiesburg. Barker said the city is prioritizing progress across all neighborhoods and not just high-traffic areas.

“We have several projects going on right now –– around midtown, between 31st and 30th Avenue, around Chevy Chase (Drive),” Barker said. “We have other (grant) projects that have been … bids have been accepted. We’re going to start those in the next few months.”

Additional projects include:

— Camp Street water and sewer: Currently under construction; temporary water outages and road closures are expected, and roads may be covered in gravel during the process.

— North Avenues water and sewer: Awarded and scheduled to begin within the next few months.

— Duke Avenue, Dogwood Drive and Corinne Street sewer: Sewer work is complete; paving on Dogwood Drive is scheduled next.

— Palmers Crossing and Irene Chapel neighborhoods water: Awaiting permit approval from railroad entities.

— Arcadia-Sunset neighborhood water: Water line installation is nearly complete; final steps include sod replacement and repairs to driveways and roads.

Balancing inconvenience with long-term impact

Despite the disruption, residents like Johnson are optimistic about the improvements.

“The construction is an improvement to the neighborhood. New water and sewer lines, sidewalks, fire hydrants will all improve the infrastructure of the neighborhood,” Johnson said.

Travis acknowledged the temporary hardships but said the improvements will be worth the wait.

“They had to shut everything off a couple of times. The power company came by here; they had to cut the power off for about maybe a whole day … then maybe the next day, a few hours, but they got pretty much done with that,” Travis said. “Your vehicles get covered up with dust all the time, so you’re washing it a lot more, and then you spray everything down, like I just was spraying down the yard with water to keep the dust down. And then when it rains, you got the mud.”

“Well, the only way you can do that is … you just have to deal with it. Hopefully, they just go ahead and get done with it. I mean, they already started, so you can hope for it to get done as soon as possible,” he said. “When they get done with this here, it’s going to be worth it. It’ll be worth it.”

As construction continues, city leaders said they remain focused on improving conditions across the Hub City — even when the progress is slow and messy.

“So, we try to make sure that every neighborhood sees a little bit of progress every year, whether it’s paving, whether it’s something more invasive like water and sewer, but ultimately, it’s part of our commitment to make sure that a city that’s 140 years old can still have state-of-the-art infrastructure,” Barker said.