U.S. Route 82 in Mississippi

U.S. Route 82 (US 82) is a section of a west-east highway that travels through Mississippi. It starts at the Arkansas state line at Refuge and ends at the Alabama state line east of Columbus.

Through the entire state, the highway is four-laned with interchanges at major junctions. US 82 comes in from Arkansas at the Greenville Bridge across the Mississippi River and almost immediately meets MS 454 and MS 184 at a Diamond interchange. The route continues as a freeway on the newly build Greenville Bypass, along with US 278. As the highway enters Leland, the freeway section ends and shortly after, intersects US 61 with U.S. 278 splitting off.

The route continues on as a four-lane divided highway and passes through small communities before reaching Indianola as an urban arterial road, having an intersection with US 49W on the outskirts of the city. From there US 82 passes through farmland, largely as a four-lane expressway with at-grade intersections and limited interchanges, and bypasses the towns of Moorhead and Itta Bena, with MS 7 joining US 82 along the way. The highway reaches Greenwood and meets US 49E which also becomes concurrent with US 82. The two travel through the city and eventually split at a Cloverleaf interchange. Mississippi Highway 7 splits off to the north and US 82 goes east and starts to go through hilly terrain. The route continues through rural hills, eventually meeting I-55 in Winona and US 51 shortly after. The highway goes through eastern Mississippi, bypassing small towns and going through rural forests.

The route eventually enters the Golden Triangle and bypasses Starkville to the north, gaining concurrencies with MS 25 and MS 12, while also becoming a Controlled-access highway. MS 25 leaves with an interchange with US 45 Alt.. US 45 joins US 82 at an interchange near Columbus and crosses the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway before entering the city and splitting off. After going through Columbus, MS 12 finally ends the concurrency at an interchange with Mississippi Highway 50. US 82 continues as a freeway for a few miles and eventually enters the state of Alabama.

US 82 was first requested by MDOT in part as a route that extended from Texarkana, Arkansas to Columbus. Their request was approved on July 1, 1931 after a similar request was made from AHTD processed a similar request. Eventually, in June 1934, an expansion to Tuscaloosa was approved and completed in the same year. The length of US 82 began shortening sometime just before 1939, mainly within cities. The length of the highway in the state was shortened even further by 1942.^[2]

A new bypass around Greenville was constructed. The new road commences at the Greenville Bridge and terminates at the previously-existing US 82 near Leland, creating a half-loop freeway around South Greenville. Diamond interchanges were built at the freeway's junctions with MS 454 and MS 1. The bypass was scheduled for completion in fall 2025.^[3][4] It opened to traffic on August 27, 2025.^[5]

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