Mall gets light

BILOXI - Edgewater Mall and its neighboring businesses will be able to hope soon that the long lines at the Eisenhower Drive-Switzer Drive intersection are strictly the result of a busy Christmas shopping season.

Workers began installing traffic signals at the intersection Friday, 438 days after Katrina knocked the old ones out of commission.

Lamey Rockco Electric Co. won the $118,855 bid to repair traffic signals at five key Biloxi intersections, including at Eisenhower-Switzer. Work crews put up half the signals on Friday, and company owner Robert Rockco said they would put up more Monday.

He said they have to coordinate with Neel-Schaffer engineers to get the lights in operation.

"We're trying to get it up before Thanksgiving, but whether we're successful or not is a different story," he said, laughing.

Last year, traffic snaked from the east end of the intersection almost to the south end of the mall at times during the holiday season.