 The current alignments of MS 198 existed by 1928 as unnumbered roads . The sections in Tylertown , Columbia , Hattiesburg , and Beaumont were gravel roads and the sections in McLain and Lucedale were unimproved roads . By 1932 , what is now MS 198 in Tylertown , Columbia , Hattiesburg , Beaumont , and McLain became a part of MS 24 , which ran east @-@ west across the southern part of the state . The section of road in McLain became a gravel road by 1933 . In 1935 , the road west of Tylertown became paved . MS 15 was designated onto MS 24 east of Beaumont and in McLain and what is now the Lucedale portion of MS 198 in 1936 . A year later , the portion of road east of Lucedale was paved . In 1938 , the portion of current MS 198 southwest of Columbia was paved . The road east of Tylertown was paved by 1939 . In 1940 , a new alignment of MS 24 between McComb and Tylertown was under construction , which included what is now MS 198 northwest of Tylertown . Also by this time , the road between Columbia and MS 44 was paved . In 1941 , the portions of road in Hattiesburg , east of Beaumont , in McLain , and northwest of Lucedale were paved . The road west of Beaumont was paved in 1943 . The portion of MS 24 between McComb and Tylertown was completed as a paved road in 1944 . In 1955 , US 98 was extended into Mississippi , replacing the MS 24 and MS 15 designations on what is now MS 198 . 
