|
By Royce Hignight – Special to GulfCoastNews.com Filed 12/22/05 Coast citizens are now enduring a great deal of hardship and frustration due to a transportation system that has been inadequate for decades that is now, not only severely inadequate, but broken as well. The Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT) is primarily responsible for this outrage.
Gulf Coast attorney Felicia Dunn Burkes wrote an eloquent editorial, which appeared in the SUN HERALD 12/6/05, titled “MDOT stubbornly steamrolls people, places and good ideas.” The title aptly describes the experiences that Harrison County residents have had with MDOT for many years. She said:
For years the Mississippi Gulf Coast has been in desperate need of relief from gridlock. The east-west corridors of U.S. 90 and Interstate 10, strain to handle traffic across South Mississippi from the Alabama state line to the Louisiana state line…
We have for some time needed better road designs. And during this time, the Mississippi Department of Transportation has been “the only game in town” with the recognized authority to design roads…
Katrina wreaked havoc on all communities along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The damage to U.S. 90, including the destruction of the bridges over the Back Bay of Biloxi and the Bay of St Louis, was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back.
With the loss of use of U.S. 90, transportation routes that remained viable after Hurricane Katrina proved totally inadequate to handle the needs of our area. Critical recovery functions, such as the importation of disaster-relief supplies, debris removal, and restoration of utilities, were slowed by inadequate north-south and east-west transportation corridors.
Travel to work, school, the doctor’s office, the grocery store, the bank and any number of other basic lifestyle functions became more burdensome…as a result of inadequate transportation avenues.
MS Burkes referred to MDOT as the Mississippi Department of Tyranny. This article will show that this moniker fits MDOT like a hand-in-a-glove. Tens of thousands of Gulf Coast citizens from Ocean Springs to Bay St. agree with MS Burkes.
This outrage has happened as a result of the incompetence, arrogance, indifference, malfeasance and perhaps worse in the Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT). However, others, such as: some legislators, mayors, city councilpersons, public officials, so-called business leaders, and the news media, over the past decade, have been reluctant to hold MDOT responsible for its empty promises and actions. They have also failed to rally the public to action and are culpable as well. Particularly noted is the City of Biloxi whose Mayor and City Council have turned their backs on their own citizens on transportation issues. Biloxi citizens, more than any other citizens, are paying the penalty. The details will be revealed in this article.
In some cases, the media has acted more like the campaign publicist for MDOT rather than as watchdog for the public. The media has been schizophrenic, at the best, regarding shortcomings of MDOT. The predicament that Harrison County finds itself in is a disaster that was in the making long before August 29, 2005, when Hurricane Katrina came ashore and wrecked the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
Ever since Hurricane Camille wrecked the Gulf Coast in 1969, the discussion has always been, not if, but when such a hurricane would strike the Coast again. There has been warning after warning and prediction after prediction that there would be another devastating hurricane. It was common knowledge that the transportation system was inadequate and that there would be a great deal of difficulty in trying to evacuate the coast. Some citizens and office holders have offered suggestions and solutions to fix the transportation system for everyday use and to be ready for the next hurricane.. However, they have been rebuffed by the obstinacy of MDOT and its politically powerful allies.
The MDOT solution to fixing the transportation system has been since 1998, to propose projects, which fits what a CLARION LEDGER editorial said about MDOT’s proposal to rebuild the Biloxi Ocean Springs Bridge, “Too Big, Too Expensive, and Too Ugly.” As a result, Harrison County now finds itself with a transportation system which is not only inadequate, but now has an inadequate and seriously damaged transportation system that is hampering recovery from the Hurricane. Still MDOT continues to ignore the needs of the community and while continuing to plan projects that are still “too big, too ugly and too expensive,” as seen it the MDOT proposal for the Biloxi-Ocean Springs bridge.
The Governor’s Commission on Recovery, Rebuilding and Renewal, that began on October 12, 2005, to brainstorm rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina included transportation [3.2mb .pdf]. World renowned experts on transportation, reviewed MDOT’ plans for three major projects, including the North/South Connector from the Canal Road exit, made some alarming statements. One of the experts allegedly said that the Gulfport Canal Road Connector was the stupidest plan he had ever seen. Further, he said the same results could be accomplished for $40 million instead of the $300 million MDOT plan.
Chester E Chellman, one of the renowned experts, said, in an article written for the MISSISSIPPI RENEWAL FORUM, “Three Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT) proposals could be changed to save $250 million to $500 million and greatly improve the economic development potential of cities.
One of the MDOT proposals he alluded to was the Gulfport Port to I-10 Connector.
These transportation experts said, “Current plans for highways, street, bridges and transit were based on out-dated assumptions regarding traffic volumes and travel patterns, and it would be incorrect to invest in major new capital improvements based on these assumptions.” They also said, “Several of the road and bridge projects planned by MDOT in advance of Hurricane Katrina do not compliment the local community development objectives.” These words reaffirm what citizens and some public officials have tried to impart to MDOT for years.
These experts prepared a list of recommendations for the transportation section of the Governor’s Commission report. One of the recommendations is:
Revise the Governing Structure of MDOT—At the State level, the existing MDOT structure of the three elected Commissioners who in turn appoint an Executive Director is, to the team’s knowledge, unlike any other State DOT, and has lead to an agency this is too autonomous. We recommend that the Mississippi legislature study this issue and consider changing the existing structure to one where a Commissioner of Transportation (one person) would be appointed by the Governor for four-year terms.
The above recommendation reaffirms the effort made by the House of Representatives, led by Representatives J.P Compretta and Billy McCoy, to reform MDOT in 2001.
Another recommendation from these experts was that the Gulf area should develop a refined master plan. What they did not know was that the Harrison County Transportation Commission (HCTC) had developed such a plan only to have it ignored, and perhaps, subverted by MDOT and others in mid to late 2001 and early 2002. More on this plan later.
1 |
