Here’s the schedule for bridge demolition, I-10 lane closures at MS Coast Buc-ee’s site
Now that the Interstate 10 overpass at Menge Avenue exit is closed, workers are preparing to demolish the bridge and rebuild the interchange.
It’s a $15 million project that will pave the way for the volume of traffic from the $50 million Buc-ee’s travel center and other development expected to follow in Pass Christian.
While these detours are a year-long inconvenience for drivers in the Pass Christian area, it’s a far better scenario than in D’Iberville, where the roads were improved long after The Promenade and other shopping centers were built. Residents and shoppers endured years of traffic jams and then years of road construction before traffic moved smoothly.
When will overpass bridge be demolished?
The overpass at Menge Avenue should be demolished by the end of July or beginning of August, said Kelly Castleberry, Mississippi Department of Transportation district engineer for the Sixth District.
Before that, lane closures will be necessary so concrete barriers can be moved into place. The barriers will protect workers, who will be building the new bridge, from traffic speeding past.
Two lanes of traffic will flow in both directions after the barriers are installed.
“Once that’s in place, they’ll begin demolition of the bridge,” Castleberry said.
That will occur over two nights, he said, with the interstate closed one full night in each direction. It may or may not be consecutive nights.
Mississippi Coast detours at Menge Avenue
Instead of detouring miles around the site while the crews demo the bridge, traffic those nights will be detoured up the I-10 exit ramp and right back down the entrance ramp at exit 24.
“But it will be one lane,” Castleberry said.
The contractor has just that one night to take down the overpass and clear away the debris before the interstate reopens in the morning. Casteleberry said the approach span to the overpass will be jackhammered in place and the portions of bridge over the traffic lanes will be reduced to small pieces and lifted out.
The bridge rebuild will take about a year, and Castleberry said there will be some lane closures again at night once the bridge structure is built to install the deck on the new overpass.
“They’ll build the bridge all at one time,” he said, rather than one side at a time, which speeds up the timeline by six months.
The I-10 entrance and exit ramps will be open throughout the project. Without the overpass, drivers traveling north on Menge Avenue will have to detour about five miles to go west on I-10, as will drivers coming south on Firetower Road who want to go east on I-10. Commuters using I-10 will only have to detour once a day.
This story was originally published July 11, 2023 at 9:23 AM.
