 
Promenade Shopping Center to Face Congested Traffic By: Keith Burton - GCN 6/22/09 GulfCoastNews.com has learned that critically needed road improvements to access the busy Promenade and Sangani-area shopping centers in D'Iberville will not be completed prior to the the Promenade's opening in October.
Last year, City Manager Richard Rose told GCN that the city had talked
with the Mississippi Department of Transportation about improvements to
the I-110 interchange near the new72-acre Promenade Shopping Center. He
also (GCN Photo left: Sangani Blvd a I-110, June 2009) "MDOT lost some of our paperwork on the project," Rose told GCN in a telephone interview last week. "That has delayed the work we were planning for Sangani." The city is responsible for the work to be done on Sangani but expected the assistance from MDOT on the project. Meanwhile, the I-110 access to the giant Promenade project is also a
problem. The current turn lane is very short, only accommodating four or
five vehicles pulling off of the main lanes of the I-110/new Highway 67
directly west of of the Sangani exit. Already, the Sangani area shopping
center routinely is jam-packed with cars and is a traffic choke point on
the busy roadway. In addition, the I-110/I-10 loop interchange is fraught
with hazards. The loop there was designed as a rural interchange and was
not designed for Rose told GCN that, "We don't have a start date," for the improvements needed for the Promenade access. (GCN Photo right: I-110 west turn lane into Promenade development - June 2009) MDOT's Southern District Highway Commissioner tells GCN that MDOT has no plans for the foreseeable future to improve the Promenade entrance from the I-110, or to make improvements to the I-110/I-10 interchange. "At no point did we (MDOT) tell them that work would be done before the development opened," Brown told GCN. Regarding the hazardous driving situation at the I-110/I-10 interchange, Brown said, "I would not use the word hazardous, I would use the word 'trying,'" said Brown.
The City of D'Iberville also has plans to improve the access to the west of the new Promenade Shopping Center from old Highway 67. (GCN photo left) Work on that project is also behind expectations, though it may get underway before the shopping center opens. It is already nearly the end of June, and work has not begun. The Promenade is scheduled to open in October without the major road improvements that are needed. Related: Jackson County Moving Forward on New Road to Sangani Blvd. in D'Iberville - Mississippi Press Update: Contractors to Make Improvements to Busy Sangani Intersection at Highway 67 - GCN 7/15/09
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discussed
a plan to widen Sangani Blvd to improve assess to the already busy
shopping center that includes a super Wal-Mart and Lowes. Rose told GCN
that the Sangani project was planned to get underway in January of this
year, but now will not get underway any sooner than January of next year.
the area's growing heavy traffic. That means motorists face cross-traffic
mergers into turning lanes for the shopping centers that are too short and
too close to the exits from the Interstate ramps.
GCN
asked Brown about the missing paperwork from D'Iberville. "We do lose
paperwork from time to time," he said. Brown was not certain whether that
was the case regarding the Sangani project. Brown said that MDOT has been
busy trying to improve the roads south of I-10 and to remove sand that had
blown up on the beach from recent thunderstorms, but he said that there
are no plans at this time for the Promenade area. MDOT this past winter
did open the new four-lane Highway 67 from U.S. 49 to the
Sangani area, which will support the shopping center from residents north
of I-10.