Mississippi Highway 314 (MS 314) is a state highway in Lafayette County, serving the city of Oxford. It is generally a two-lane roadway.
 Mississippi Highway 314 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Route information | ||||
| Maintained by MDOT and City of Oxford | ||||
| Length | 7.278 mi[1] (11.713 km) | |||
| Existed | 1957–present | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| West end |  CR 100 near Oxford | |||
| East end |   MS 7 / MS 334 in Oxford | |||
| Location | ||||
| Country | United States | |||
| State | Mississippi | |||
| Counties | Lafayette | |||
| Highway system | ||||
| ||||
The road begins northwest of Oxford and travels southeast towards the city and the campus of the University of Mississippi before traveling through the city's downtown area. The highway ends at an interchange with MS 7 where the road continues as MS 334.
Route description
editThe western terminus of MS 314 is in rural Lafayette County northwest of Oxford. West of here, the roadway continues as Lafayette County Road 100 heading towards the Sardis Reservoir. MS 314 heads southeast as a two-lane road past churches and a sports field complex. Passing through a roundabout, the road gains bike lanes on both sides of the highway as it passes small condominiums and the University-Oxford Airport as it enters the city limits of Oxford. MS 314 makes a sharp curve to the south to come to an intersection with Jackson Avenue, former MS 6, across the road from the University of Mississippi campus. MS 314 becomes four lanes wide with a center turn lane as it skirts around the north side of the college campus heading east. The road narrows to two lanes and passes under the Oxford Depot Trail (formerly Mississippi Central Railroad), MS 314 turns to the south along Ninth Avenue before Jackson Avenue reaches the downtown portion of Oxford. It heads south for three blocks before turning back to the east on University Avenue. Heading through the city's business district, MS 314 widens to four lanes before it ends at a diamond interchange with MS 7. University Avenue continues east as MS 334 which also has its terminus at this interchange.[2]
MS 314 is state-maintained on its portion west of Oxford city limits and in the vicinity of the MS 7 interchange. It is otherwise maintained by the city of Oxford.[1][2][3]
History
editThe highway was established as an unpaved road around 1957 running from the Sardis Reservoir into Oxford.[4][5] By 1994, most of the road had been paved.[6] By 2010, the road had been truncated to a total length of 6.4 miles (10.3 km) [7] MS 314 was extended to its current length of 7.3 miles (11.7 km) in 2014.[8]
In 2011, Kevser Ermin, a doctoral student at the University of Mississippi, tragically lost her life while on a training ride on Old Sardis Road, which is part of the highway. In her honor, Lafayette County decided to rename a portion of Old Sardis Road after the student. The segment of road, measuring four-and-a-half miles and located on Mississippi Highway 314, commonly referred to as Old Sardis Road locally, was officially designated as the "Kevser Ermin Memorial Highway" following the accident.[9][10][11][12]
Major intersections
editThe entire route is in Lafayette County.
| Location | mi[13] | km | Destinations | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | 0.000 | 0.000 | CR 100 | Western terminus | |
| Oxford | 7.278 | 11.713 |  MS 7 / MS 334 east (University Avenue) – Water Valley, Holly Springs | Eastern terminus; interchange; western terminus of MS 334 | |
| 1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi | |||||
References
edit- ^ a b Mississippi Department of Transportation Planning Division (2019). Mississippi Public Roads Selected Statistics Extent, Travel, and Designation (PDF) (Report). Mississippi Department of Transportation. p. F-7. Retrieved June 1, 2021.
- ^ a b "Mississippi Highway 314" (Map). Google Maps. Retrieved June 1, 2021.
- ^ State Designated-State Maintained Highway System of Mississippi (PDF) (Map). Mississippi Department of Transportation. July 2019. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 12, 2023. Retrieved June 1, 2021.
- ^ Official Highway Map State of Mississippi (PDF) (Map). State Highway Commission. 1957. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 30, 2023. Retrieved June 1, 2021.
- ^ Official Highway Map State of Mississippi (PDF) (Map). State Highway Commission. 1958. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 30, 2023. Retrieved June 1, 2021.
- ^ Official Highway Map of Mississippi (PDF) (Map). Mississippi Department of Transportation. 1994. Archived (PDF) from the original on April 15, 2023. Retrieved June 1, 2021.
- ^ "Mississippi Public Roads Selected Statistics Extent, Travel, and Designation" (PDF). Mississippi Department of Transportation. 2010. p. F-9. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 2, 2021. Retrieved June 1, 2021.
- ^ "Mississippi Public Roads Selected Statistics Extent, Travel, and Designation" (PDF). Mississippi Department of Transportation. 2014. p. F-8. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 2, 2021. Retrieved June 1, 2021.
- ^ "Mississippi Public Roads Selected Statistics Extent, Travel, and Designation" (PDF). Mississippi Department of Transportation. 2012. p. G-4. Retrieved March 24, 2024.
- ^ "Mississippi Public Roads Selected Statistics Extent, Travel, and Designation" (PDF). Mississippi Department of Transportation. 2014. p. I-21. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 2, 2021. Retrieved June 1, 2021.
- ^ Irwin, Dennis (April 1, 2014). "Inaugural Kevser Ermin Memorial Lecture to Focus on Bone Health". Ole Miss News. Retrieved March 24, 2024.
- ^ "HB 35 (As Introduced) - 2012 Regular Session". Mississippi Legislative Bill Status System. Retrieved March 24, 2024.
- ^ "MS Highways". Mississippi Geospatial Data Catalog. Retrieved June 1, 2021.