MDOT has admitted that it costs four to five times as much to build an elevated road and five to ten times as much to build a bridge as it does to build at ground level. The route MDOT selected would require two bridges and go through more houses in the more costlier areas of Biloxi. MDOT admitted that it did not make sense and that they would have to talk to their consultants who arrived at those figures. MDOT manipulated the Citizens Corridor Committee to select a route that MDOT wanted, the most expensive route. And once it was selected by the city, promised that construction would be well on its way. However, that has not happened. Instead, MDOT has shifted its focus for a new Coast north/south connector toward the Canal Road/Port of Gulfport connector. A big question posed by many Coast citizens is why MDOT shifted its attention to Gulfport when a Biloxi route had been authorized and funded to the amount of $50-million by the state legislature in February 1997 in the Gaming Road Program bill. MDOT owes Biloxi a road. The Sun Herald's editors in the Sunday July 31, 2005 edition said they felt that MDOT is on the right road in an editorial . But that is far from the truth. MDOT's road has been, and continues to be a road to disaster for Biloxi. And with each periodic announcement over the Biloxi Connector, MDOT continues to lull Biloxi and Coast leaders with the promise of a new road that just gets farther and farther away in reality. |
