More road construction is coming to Biloxi, and this time it’s on a major highway
Drivers already finding ways around road construction in Biloxi will have one more project to navigate starting Sunday.
Mississippi Department of Transportation has awarded a $6.5 million contract to pave the length of U.S. 90 through the city, from DeBuys Road at the Gulfport line to the Biloxi Bay Bridge.
Warren Paving of Hattiesburg is the prime contractor, said Paula Wiles, area engineer for MDOT.
U.S. 90 was rebuilt after Hurricane Katrina and completed in 2008. That makes much of the road now 10 years old, said MDOT District Engineer Kelly Castleberry, and has been damaged by heavy rains in an area that is 100 percent sand.
Crews will begin on the underground infrastructure, which includes cleaning and taking video of the pipes, she said, followed by sidewalk and curb repair.
When it gets time to start paving, “Anything that’s going to involve a closure, it’s going to be done at night,” Wiles said.
The completion date is subject to weather and work stoppages for events such as Cruisin’ The Coast from Sept. 30 to Oct. 7. The largest event in the state last year brought a record 8,308 antique and classic cars to the roads of Biloxi and South Mississippi.
Wiles said that she hopes the project will be far enough along to start paving before Cruisin’ The Coast, but in any case, she said crews will not work that week.
Drivers have seen traffic backups from lanes being closed to allow crews to build a pedestrian crosswalk over U.S. 90 in East Biloxi near I-110.
Wiles said crews have started building the tower on the north side of U.S. 90 near MGM Park and are working on the foundations on the south side near the Beau Rivage Resort & Casino. If lane closures in the area are still needed in October during Cruisin’ The Coast, they won’t be affecting traffic anymore than they are now,” she said.
Malouf Construction of Greenwood is the contractor for that $3.6 million project MDOT project, which has a December completion date.
Biloxi also has three major road construction projects under way as part of the $355 million infrastructure repairs from Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Crews are working north and south of the railroad tracks in East Biloxi and west of I-110, along with on the north side of U.S. 90 near the Biloxi Lighthouse.
The city hasn’t announced a date when construction will begin on a second crosswalk, three blocks to the east of the MGM Park crosswalk, near the Small Craft Harbor.