Work starts on first Buc-ee’s in MS. What about I-10 Labor Day traffic near the site?
Work has started on the new Buc-ee’s in Harrison County while crews rebuilding the I-10 intersection to accommodate the travel center are off over Labor Day Weekend.
That means no lane closures this busy holiday weekend on I-10 at exit 24, according to the Mississippi Department of Transportation.
When the road crews return, they’ll still have some work to remove the remaining section of the overpass before starting to build a new, larger overpass and interchange.
I-10 was closed twice overnight this summer to remove the beams across the highway.
Photos taken by James Randolph, DVM, who has an animal clinic nearby, show how jackhammers broke up the center support in the median between the east and westbound lanes of I-10. A small section of the south side of the overpass still has to be demolished and hauled away.
The entire interchange will be rebuilt and enlarged in the $15 million project funded by Harrison County. It’s to accommodate the $50 million Buc-ee’s travel center and other development expected to follow at the Menge Avenue exit near Pass Christian.
Buc-ee’s construction has begun, with heavy equipment preparing the site and the official groundbreaking is scheduled Sept. 12. It will be a sprawling 74,000-square-foot building with 120 fueling pumps and 24 EV charging stations.
Road crews are staging for the next phase of construction that will allow them to rebuild the overpass, keep traffic moving and enhance safety.
Some lane closures will be required to place concrete barriers on I-10 to allow two lanes of traffic in each direction and protect workers from traffic speeding past.
“They’ll build the bridge all at one time,” said Kelly Castleberry, Mississippi Department of Transportation district engineer for the Sixth District. This speeds up the timeline by six months over building one side at a time, he said.
The road work is expected to be completed in August 2024.
Buc-ee’s is scheduled to open in spring of 2025 and create hundreds of jobs.
This story was originally published September 1, 2023 at 11:55 AM.
