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The Legislature approved a four-lane, ground level connector in the 1997 legislative session. The connector was funded by the extension of the Gaming Road Program tax from 2002 through 2012, which was to raise sufficient funds for the $50 million project. However, nothing else was heard from MDOT until MDOT held a little publicized public meeting on 9/24/98, at which time MDOT revealed 7 possibilities for the routes.
These proposals would all be overhead, six-lane expressways with cost estimates approaching $300 million. The 9/24/98 meeting was the first of several public meetings, in which the public would learn about these MDOT proposals
MDOT used maps that were years out of date and did not reflect the existence of major subdivisions. MDOT seemed to be unaware of a proposed east-west route and, therefore, had not taken under consideration how it would affect the north-south route. MDOT seemed to be unaware of Biloxi’s Comprehensive Plan done in 1996, which included transportation plans. MDOT seemed to be unaware of other studies that had been done over a long period of time in regard to the north-south route.
MDOT seemed to be unaware of planned developments, such as the new Biloxi high school planned for North Biloxi. This lack of due diligence in knowing the community, understanding its needs, and taking the community’s needs into consideration, during the planning phase, is incompetence at the very least.
MDOT’s Stated Purpose For Biloxi Connector
MDOT stated that the purpose of a new Biloxi north/south connector was to reduce the traffic on I 110, which would be overloaded with traffic, by 2020, to an unacceptable level. MDOT claimed in order to achieve this goal, that a six-lane overhead expressway was necessary. MDOT also admitted that the closer the new connector was to I 110, the more it would help reduce traffic on I 110.
Biloxi has two bridges running from the Biloxi peninsula to the mainland; the I 110 Bridge and the Popp’s Ferry Bridge. The Biloxi peninsula was almost 100% developed. The North Bay area was one of the fastest growing areas in Harrison County and largely residential. A large percentage of the residents north of the Bay were military or worked on KAFB.
In addition, there was a bridge between Biloxi and Ocean Springs on Highway 90. The land routes to the west were Highway 90, from Biloxi to Gulfport and Pass Road from Biloxi to Gulfport. There were two secondary bridges from I 10, one to Oceans Springs and the Cowan Lorraine Road Bridge to Gulfport.
Under the best of conditions, these bridges were a bottleneck. Traffic congestion was extremely exacerbated by the increase in traffic brought on with legalized gaming in 1992. If any one of the above bridges broke down, which they frequently did, gridlock quickly developed over a wide area. These bridges were a disaster waiting to happen when a major hurricane hit the area. The seriousness of the situation was recognized by the legislature in 1997, when it authorized and funded the north/south connectors for Biloxi and Gulfport.
The City of Biloxi also recognized the seriousness of a lack of north south routes when it adopted the Vision 20 20 Study, which stated that a four-lane highway from Cedar Lake to Rodenberg was the top priority for Biloxi and a secondary long range priority was a proposed route from Woolmarket to Popps’s Ferry Road.
Public Opposition to MDOT Proposals Led to Harrison County Transportation Commission Plan
In view of the fact that there was so much public opposition to the MDOT proposal of a large, over head, expressway, that would cut through and destroy so many neighborhoods, and hamper economic development, some of us citizens and public officials sought to develop an alternative plan to the MDOT proposals.
Since the Biloxi Comprehensive plan, that MDOT was unaware of, called for two ground level routes that would require one bridge each, it seemed rather logical that two routes could handle more traffic and better serve the community than the proposal that MDOT was pushing that would require two bridges on one road and still have just one route. However, even two or more routes were not going to solve the traffic gridlock.
These new routes would dump more traffic onto Highway 90 that was already at maximum capacity and there would still be gridlock. MDOT’s proposal to dump six lanes of traffic onto the four-lane 90, with these two connectors was not going to solve the traffic situation and MDOT NEW THIS. MDOT’s very own Baker Study, done in 1996, for the Gaming Road Program says:
It would require a general widening of US 90 to six or more lanes to achieve a desirable level of service, but such a widening, not considered to be feasible due to aesthetic and public opinion considerations on this scenic oceanfront route.
It would take not only the new connector routes, but also a new east-west route in order to have a real fix. In addition, MDOT was proposing a similar overly expensive route for the Gulfport Connector. What was actually needed was a transportation plan for the entire county, including Ocean Springs, that all of the affected areas could get behind and support.
MDOT’s fallacy was in viewing the Gulfport and Biloxi connectors and other improvements, such as on Highway 90 in Oceans Springs, as entirely separate projects. This is pure folly, because each and every road improvement impacts all others. The area between I 10 and U.S. 90 can be likened to a bucket of water and each and every hole punched in the bucket will make that bucket empty faster and faster regardless of where the hole is punched. Likewise every traffic artery from I 10 to U.S. 90 impacts every other artery. The perfect entity to develop this plan was the Harrison County Transportation Commission.
The Harrison County Transportation Commission (HCTC) was a group of public officials, from throughout Harrison County, including mayors, legislators, city councilpersons, supervisors, and some private citizens. The original purpose of the HCTC was to study and find a way to build an east-west corridor across Harrison County from Biloxi Bay to the Bay St. Louis.
The HCTC was administered under the auspices of the Gulf Regional Planning Commission (GRPC), of which Jeff Taylor was the Executive Director. Taylor was known for his dedication to improving the living conditions in the community who tried to work with and help all government entities.
The GRPC was the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for MDOT and the region. An MPO coordinates transportation planning. To assist in long range planning, the MPO maintains a computerized traffic model which forecasts traffic based on projected land-use and socioeconomic conditions in each of 360 traffic analysis zones into which the Gulf Region is divided.
This model was updated in 1996, and thus was based on the most current estimates of future land use and transportation facilities. Year 2020 traffic volumes were taken directly from this model and supplied to Baker for use in the Gaming Roads Program analysis, according to the Baker report. The MPO was federally funded, but the funds came through MDOT. Taylor was, perhaps the most knowledgeable person in the area for the traffic conditions and of the traffic studies that had been done over many years.
The HCTC undertook the challenge and Taylor developed the overall multimodal plan as set forth in Exhibit 1 that has six north/south routes in Harrison County, and an east/west route.
Exhibit 2 reflects the traffic count on all of the roads in the plan.
Obviously, Harrison County and all of the cities in Harrison County could not implement this plan without financial help from the state. Taylor put together the following legislative needs to support the transportation plan:
Amend the 1987 Four-Lane Program of the Gaming Highways Program to authorize a system of north/south highway corridors between I-10 and US Highway 90 at each existing interchange in Harrison County including: Exit 44 at Cedar Lake road; Exit 41 at Highway 67 in Woolmarket; Exit 28 at Beatline Road; and, a new interchange between Exit 46 at I110 and Exit 50 in Ocean Springs to service Casino Row in East Biloxi.
Amend the 1987 Four-Lane Program’s definition of the terminus of Highway 15 to extend to US Highway 90 instead of terminating at I-10.
Extend the sunset provisions of the 1987 Four-Lane Program and the Gaming Highways Program to adequately fund connectors currently authorized and those requested above. Prioritize all roads in the remaining phases of the 1987 Four-Lane Program on a needs-based standard to appropriately expand highway capacity when traffic volumes warrant.
Dedicate the full proceeds of the 2% gaming tax diversion to construction only.
Memorialize the Legislature to pass the Multi-Modal Transportation funding bill for transit, air, rail, ports, etc.
Enact Legislation allowing residents to vote on the imposition of a local option sales tax to build an East-West Corridor in Harrison County.
Based on the tenets of a comprehensive corridor system, require MDOT to utilize existing local roadways and include local transportation and land use plans in the design of highways.
This plan was not a plan that had to be implemented and developed all at once, but could have been done over a period of time, even years. The importance of the plan was to have a county-wide plan instead of doing individual projects without consideration for the impact they had on each other as MDOT was doing.
The HCTC transportation plan was very close to what the transportation experts, who participated in the Governor’s Commission charrettes, where referring to when they recommended that the Gulf area should develop a refined master plan for transportation. Unfortunately, the HCTC plan had met its demise because of actions attributable to MDOT and others. To understand what happened to the HCTC plan, we have to return to activities that occurred at the Biloxi Citizens Corridor Committee. 11 |
