Here’s the list of $62 million in Restore Act projects just announced for South Mississippi
A working waterfront and seafood harbor in D’Iberville and a more walkable downtown Ocean Springs are two of the 16 projects announced Tuesday by Gov. Tate Reeves at the Coast Coliseum and Convention Center.
The projects are from two buckets of money paid to help South Mississippi’s economy and infrastructure that were damaged by the BP oil spill in 2010. This year’s total of $62,260,000 is added to more than $570 million already being spent on restoration projects in the state.
Reeves said he and Coast legislators have fought for many years to make sure the money due to the Mississippi Gulf Coast stays on the Coast.
“None of these projects are Jackson projects,” he said. “Every single one of them came through the committee process of the Gulf Coast Advisory Committees.”
The projects from RESTORE Act Direct Component (Bucket 1) include:
▪ $6.6 million — Washington Street Avenue Gateway in Ocean Springs, to construct pedestrian-friendly sidewalks, crosswalks, landscape the median and install mast arm signals for safety for Washington Avenue in Ocean Springs.
▪ $6.05 million — Hancock County Fairgrounds Revitalization/Hancock County Multipurpose Arena for upgrades and improvements to the 80-acre fairgrounds and multipurpose arena including facilities and infrastructure for economic growth.
▪ $5.5 million — Broadwater Marina Restoration Project to return to public use 30 acres of state-owned lands that includes future tourism and economic development potential.
▪ $4.18 million — Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport Project Ready Site Mitigation and Prep for mitigating, clearing and grubbing an economic development site at the airport.
▪ $3.19 million — Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport Site Expansion and Facility Relocation to expand the airport’s 241-acre runway-adjacent Project Ready site to attract industrial aerospace investment. Also, demolish the antiquated vehicle fleet maintenance facility and build a new facility adjacent to the airport’s maintenance building.
▪ $2.2 million — City of Moss Point Interstate 10 Commercial Corridor to improve access, connectivity and safety in the Interstate Commerce District and enhance the city’s economy and quality of life.
▪ $2.2 million - Hancock County Tech Park at Stennis Airport to construct a building to house the Department of the Army’s Joint Airborne Lidar Bathymetry Technical Center of Expertise, which has outgrown its existing incubator space.
▪ $1.65 million — Commercial Proving Grounds for Space to Sea Floor Environmental Monitoring for the development of airborne and waterborne unmanned systems to test and calibrate new systems from private, educational, governmental, and military entities.
▪ $1.54 million — Mississippi Coast Coliseum and Convention Center funding for high intensity lights, security cameras in the parking lot and outer concourse for safety. A continuation of previously-funded improvements. This will mean less security issues or the potential for issues, said executive director Matt McDonnell.
▪ $1.1 million — Water Quality Improvement Program for new, repaired, or upgraded stormwater and wastewater systems including septic to sewer conversions.
RESTORE Act Spill Impact Component (Bucket 3) projects include:
▪ $6.6 million — City of D’Iberville working waterfront and commercial seafood harbor to build a mixed-use working waterfront and seafood harbor
▪ $5.5 million — Gulf Coast Center of Security and Emerging Technology Fusion project to focus on developing an Information Technology workforce for economic expansion and innovation.
▪ $5.5 million — Improvement of wastewater quality and solid waste disposal from shrimp processing industry for improvements to wastewater treatment and solid waste disposal from the shrimp processing industry.
▪ $4.95 million — Beachfront resilience, providing additional funding for enhancing and repairing U.S. 90 boardwalks and sidewalks along with dune plantings and fencing for sand migration.
▪ $3.3 million — Coastal Habitat Management Fund for plans and management of existing and newly-acquired coastal preserves tracts.
▪ $2.2 million — Accelerate Mississippi public/private Workforce Training Partnership for workforce development through Accelerate Mississippi in the three Coast counties.
This story was originally published November 9, 2021 at 3:34 PM.
