MDA Chief Opposes MDOT Bridge Plan

By Lora Hines and Chris Joyner

The head of the Mississippi Development Authority said Tuesday he opposes a plan by the Mississippi Department of Transportation to build a six-lane bridge between Ocean Springs and Biloxi, replacing a four-lane structure on U.S. 90 destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.

MDA executive director Leland Speed said MDOT's plans for rebuilding the bridge are in opposition to a plan developed by the Governor's Commission on Recovery, Rebuilding and Renewal to create a low-speed scenic boulevard. Building a larger bridge will only increase traffic on the Coast's most valuable real estate, making it the equivalent to "sitting on the shoulder of I-10," he said. "We have a beautiful plan, and quite frankly, this impairs that plan dramatically," he said.

Speed also expressed his support for Ocean Springs Mayor Connie Moran, one of the Coast's most vocal opponents of the bridge design. MDOT executive director Butch Brown said the
bridge plan will not increase traffic along U.S. 90. The coastal highway already has six lanes of traffic at either end, and prior to the storm, the design led traffic into an unsafe bottleneck at the bridge, he said.

"All studies show that bridge, when constructed, should be a six-lane bridge," he said. "We're not doing anything to add traffic to Highway 90."Brown said more traffic is coming. MDOT studies show that traffic on U.S. 90, and to the north on I-10, have doubled in the past two decades, he said.

"We're projecting that in 20 years the traffic will double again," he said. "We were already pulling our hair out trying to figure out what to do with the traffic on Highway 90 before the storm."

Plans to build 15,000 to 20,000 new condominiums along that stretch will speed the increase in traffic, he said. The bridge must be redesigned to accommodate that growth or U.S. 90 will be gridlocked, he said.Moran has insisted that MDOT's plans are based on incorrect traffic projections. She met Tuesday with MDOT officials and presented opinions of three engineers who agreed MDOT wants to build a bridge based on flawed numbers.

Bridge traffic reached a 33,000 vehicle-per-day peak between 1990 and 1995, which Moran said her experts attributed to casino construction. Moran said it has not been at that level since. "We know there will be some growth," she said. Just not as much as MDOT has predicted, she said.Moran said MDOT has made this decision without considering the possible construction of other major east-west roads or the redevelopment of the Coast as a result of the hurricane. "We could go with an emergency bridge so we could do something so we don't have to make a knee-jerk reaction," she said.

Brown said the meeting with Moran changed nothing.

"Her numbers are wrong about traffic counts," he said. "The traffic is there."MDOT will accept proposals for the bridge this month and award a contract by Feb. 3. The project will be paid for out of the $2.8 billion Congress set aside to repair transportation infrastructure damaged by Hurricane Katrina.

Some local leaders support the plan, including some Ocean Springs aldermen. The Harrison and Jackson County boards also have passed resolutions in favor of the six-lane bridge.Speed said it is difficult for local politicians to oppose MDOT. "MDOT is very powerful and they probably are very wary about getting on the wrong side of MDOT," he said.