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On 11/12/99, MDOT engineer Billie Barton presented the cost of the MDOT proposals to the Corridor Committee. A SUN HERALD article dated 11/13/99, Titled, “State tags road at $200 million,” stated that Barton delivered preliminary cost estimates to the committee for four of the six routes under consideration. They ranged from $209 million to $257 million. The article said that state and federal governments will be asked to pay for the road.
During the course of these Citizens’ Corridor Committee meetings, it had become apparent to me that there was a lot of disingenuousness coming from the MDOT representatives. For instance one would give a particular time when something would be accomplished and another would give a different time; they kept changing the dates when the environmental impact studies would be done; they were non-committal about funding, and when the road would be built; they had given erroneous information about being required to build an elevated highway. As a result of this disingenuousness, I began checking into the funding for the road.
I checked with several legislators. They told me they had the same problem of trying to get straight information out of MDOT, but they started supplying me with documentation. I learned about the Gaming Road Program Funding and the Baker Study.
I found that the Biloxi Connector was funded as a ground level, four-lane highway in the amount of $50 million, not $200 million or more. I also found that the Cowan-Lorraine Road project was budgeted for $43.5 million, not the $125 million or so that it ultimately cost; I found that the Gulfport Canal Road Connector was budgeted for $47.5 million not the $300 million that MDOT has turned it into. In fact, I found that MDOT had only $325 million plus for the 37 projects listed in the Baker Study.
The cost of these 37 projects, even at the budgeted cost, was over $1 billion. The numbers did not work. Further, most of the $325 million had already been spent or committed. With this understanding of the funding, I began understanding why MDOT was so non-specific and evasive about when the road would be built.
I also found that Harrison County was paying hundreds of millions of dollars on gasoline taxes into the 1987 Four-Lane Program and getting little or nothing in return. In other words, Harrison County was subsidizing the building of four-lane highways throughout the state, while Harrison County did without.
Gerald Blessey, attorney, former legislator, former mayor of Biloxi, and I wrote an article titled, “There is no money for north-south routes,” which ran as a forum article in the SUN HERALD February 2, 2000, and exposed the fact that MDOT had overspent and overbuilt some of the projects and that no money was left for the Biloxi Connector, Gulfport Connector, and other projects that were supposed to have been done under the Gaming Road Program. Wayne Brown refuted these assertions in speeches at service clubs and in the media.
A SUN HERALD news article dated 3/2/00, quoted Brown as having said, “Mississippi most definitely does not overbuild and overspend on roads.” Brown also said that a ground-level highway would cause traffic gridlock in Biloxi similar to what Gulfport motorists experience on U.S. 49. Brown went on to say, “The delay has not been because of a lack of funding.” However, MDOT problems were just beginning.
MDOT Out of Money for 1987 Four-Lane Program and Casino Road Program
A Clarion Ledger Article dated 5/2/00, just two months after the above SUN HERALD article dated 3/2/00, titled, “MDOT road plan triples to $4.7B.” The article stated:
A 1987 transportation plan to improve many state highways has nearly tripled in costs, officials say….It’s going to cost more than originally envisioned and it’s going to take longer than estimated.
On 7/14/00, a SUN HERALD article titled, “Budget shortfall threatens road work,” reflects the following:
A money crunch in the state Department of Transportation could delay new highway construction in Mississippi, including roads connecting to interstate 10 and U.S 49 in Harrison County.
The problem is so serious that the state Transportation Commission asked Gov. Ronnie Musgrove to include the issue in an upcoming special legislative session on economic development.
MDOT’s problem is two-pronged: Unusually warm weather year-around in recent years has helped speed construction of the state’s $4.7 billion, four-lane highway program. That also has depleted the agency’s reserve funds for the projects…
At the same time, a $1.24 billion program to build roads in counties with casinos faces problems. The agency could have trouble borrowing money for casino road projects because its revenue source---$36 million a year from state gambling taxes—expires in 2012.
Is it believable that good weather drove up the cost of building highways? Why is the highway building program years behind, if the good weather allowed MDOT to get ahead in the road building? What about Wayne Brown’s earlier statements that lack of money was not holding up the Gulfport and Biloxi connectors? It seems like a lot of disingenuousness to me.
Public Officials Provided With Written Analysis and Documentation of MDOT Activities
By letter dated 7/28/00, packets of information that documented the forgoing information were provided to Governor Ronnie Musgrove because of the MDOT call for a special legislative session for additional funding for MDOT.
Thereafter, on 8/11/00, the same packets were furnished to the Coast Legislative Delegation; all Mississippi Legislators; Coast Mayors; and Coast City Councilpersons. 8 |
