By Keith Burton - GCN 3/24/08
Updated 3/30/08

Mississippi Department of Transportation officials have opened all of the west-bound lanes of the new Biloxi Bay Bridge well ahead of schedule.

Kelly Castleberry, district area engineer for MDOT, told GCN  March 24th that the contractors working on the bridge would fully open the westbound lanes by March 31st, and all of the eastbound lanes by April 7th, but the contractors were able to open the lanes Friday, March 28th.

Officials said the weather cooperated in speeding the process to open the lanes than earlier announced.

In addition, Castelberry says that MDOT has been coordinating the finishing of the bridge with contractors working on rebuilding U.S. 90 and should have the section between the bridge and the I-110 interchange finished during the same period. This stretch of U.S. 90 is the key section for Biloxi's busy casinos. While work on U.S. 90 's 26-mile is still underway, the section between the casinos is considered critical for their business.

The Biloxi Bay Bridge is being completed under a $338.6 million design-build contract awarded to G. C. Constructors, a joint venture comprised of Massman Construction Co., Kiewit Southern Co., and Traylor Bros., Inc. URS, a consulting engineering firm experienced in design-build projects, is providing project oversight on behalf of MDOT.

The new bridge was a necessity for the area when hurricane Katrina knocked down the previous bridge on August 29, 2005.

When completed, the Biloxi Bay Bridge will accommodate six traffic lanes and include a shared biking and pedestrian path. Local artists' work will be transformed into bronze plaques and will be placed on the bridge railings along the pedestrian walkway.  The new bridge structure provides approximately 95 feet of vertical clearance to accommodate marine traffic.

The bridge also includes a special lighting feature that, at night, highlights the outside of the bridge edge, which can be seen miles away.

The new bridge officially opened to two-lane traffic in November.