Introduction

There has never been a time on the Gulf Coast when transportation issues are more relevant. With the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, and the destruction of the Biloxi-Ocean Springs and Bay St. Louis bridges, the time has come for a serious look at the agency that will largely determine the future of the Gulf Coast, and that is the Mississippi Department of Transportation, or MDOT.

Royce Hignight, a retired FBI agent and long-time Biloxi resident, has been intensively involved with transportation issues since his retirement in the mid 1990's. He has participated in numerous transportation committees and has spearheaded activities in an effort to reform MDOT, which he believes is an organization with too much power, and too inept to continue in its present form.

Hignight's work with the FBI was extensively involved with investigating public corruption in Mississippi. His work resulted in the arrests and convictions of numerous public officials in local, county and state positions.

MDOT is a multibillion dollar agency run by three elected commissioners that answer virtually to no one, but is responsible for building roads throughout the state. The Coast has been many times promised  road and bridges that have never been built. And now, MDOT is charged with the most important element of the Coast's recovery that will set the future for redevelopment. But can this agency be trusted?

Hignight has followed MDOT closely. The following GulfCoastNews.com Special Report, MDOT: A History of Deception, was written to outline an agency that consistently makes promises, but fails to deliver. Hignight's report is a scathing and lengthy expose' on the way MDOT has handled itself and this report spans nearly a decade of MDOT's shuffling ways and deceptive practices. Hignight's report should be read in its entirety but it is lengthy, and some may find it  burdensome to read.

But if you are a Coast resident, or someone truly interested in transportation issues on the Mississippi Coast, Hignight's MDOT: A History of Deception is a "must read" story. Hignight believes that MDOT is an agency that must be reformed by the state legislature if the state is to get the roads and highways it deserves. MDOT's actions regarding Coast area transportation needs is a history of neglect, misdirection, deception and incompetence.

GCN has placed the entire report in a format that is crosslinked and easy to navigate.

CLICK HERE TO BEGIN

Keith Burton - Owner and Editor of GulfCoastNews.com