Malfunction Junction

From what I understand before it was a road intersection, it was a major train junction so that's what the original junction is. I believe there are still some railroad tracks you can see in the junction.

Mississippi State's campus is really unrecognizable rn and it's become a major university that isn't turning back.

About 7 streets came together where the Junction is today. From the University’s founding in 1878 until about 1970, the rail line from Artesia to Starkvegas came through campus. For a number of years you could still see the rail bed. To the east it passed along where the present Allen Hall is located. If you go out S of campus to Artesia Road, you can see where the tracks crossed Artesia Road. Also, when I was a youngster, you could still see where they crossed US Highway 45 at Artesia. Going west from MJ, it paralleled University Drive for a short distance and then paralleled the current Russell Drive (the old Depot is located on Russell Drive). A bit farther up, the tracks joined the still existing KCS RR that come through town from West Point to Ackerman.

After the railroad abandoned the tracks, Malfunction Junction really got its infamous moniker. The streets were just a jumbled mess of asphalt. When the University eliminated some of these streets and created the Junction (the Green Space just S of the Stadium and the amphitheater just to the W) is was a stroke of genius.

I have LSU friends who have said the Junction far beats anything that they have in BR. When they said that, I knew we had something special. As a side note, I have been to BR and the Junction does beat anything they have at Tiger Stadium.

So my memories of Malfunction Junction are generally negative. It was a terrible mess most of the time. The current set up is better than a night and day difference.

They made the junction halfway through my stay at MSU. I almost forget about it now as well. That thing was a disaster.

I think the name “The Junction “ was a nod to the Railroad history. Technically, the railroad just passed through campus and the railroad junction was in downtown Starkvegas. In the early days, there was a platform/station on campus and in town as well.

Aesthetically, Malfunction Junction was horrible. Another thing the University did screw up was locating the Library in its present location and then expanding it years ago. When they did that it blocked the view of the twin towers (Industrial Engineering Building) when you came over the hill on highway 12 from the west. It was an iconic view and they totally screwed it up when they blocked them from view. Those twin towers were part of the identity of campus and now most people don’t even know they are there.

But back to Malfunction Junction, on normal days it was horrible. On a football Saturday, it was total gridlock. This was back when the stadium only sat 32K. So as was already mentioned, in the early 2000’s, when the decision was made to do a makeover on that area, it was a good one and they got it right.
We are still reaping the benefits today.

When I showed up for grad school in the early 80's, they were asking for ideas on how to solve the junction. I submitted a traffic circle similar to the ones used all over the UK. I was told that people from MS would kill each other in a traffic circle. Now days, they seem to be fairly common in a number of places across the state.

Somebody could make a mint selling replica "Don't Never Ever Enter" signs