 What is now MS 198 originally existed as gravel and earth roads by the 1920s . The portions of the current road became parts of MS 24 and MS 15 in the 1930s and were all paved by the 1940s . US 98 was designated on these segments in 1955 . Between the 1970s and 1990s , US 98 was rerouted to bypass Tylertown , Columbia , Hattiesburg , Beaumont , McLain , and Lucedale . By 1998 , MS 198 was designated onto the former alignment of US 98 through these communities . The McLain section was truncated from US 98 east of town to MS 57 in 2005 . 
