A pedestrian-only block is coming to downtown OS. Here’s the latest from the mayor.
A short block of Cash Alley in Ocean Springs will close to traffic and be strung with overhead lights in the first step to help walkers and drivers navigate the downtown.
Mayor Kenny Holloway said Cash Alley from Government Street to DeSoto will soon be blocked to traffic.
Children are often in the street getting popsicles at Pop Brothers, and Holloway said making the street pedestrian-only will make it much safer.
Closing the street also will create more of a challenge to get from Government Street to the parking lots near the train depot, where many of the city’s festivals are held.
Dale & Associates engineering firm in Biloxi is preparing a downtown traffic and parking study that Holloway said will be ready in about 60 days.
“One of the ideas was the Cash Alley thing. We’ve already implemented that,” he said.
Holloway was sworn in as mayor about 10 weeks ago. Reporting Wednesday at the Ocean Spring Chamber of Commerce breakfast at Blue Dog Bistro, he and city staff gave an update on projects throughout the city. They include:
▪ A contract was awarded to replace the lights on the Biloxi Bay Bridge from Biloxi to Ocean Springs, said Patty Gaston, city clerk. Mississippi Department of Transportation will pay to have the lights replaced over and under the bridge, she said. Those lights are expected to last about five years, she said, and then Ocean Springs and Biloxi will have to pay for new lights.
▪ MODT will start paving U.S. 90 Sunday from the bridge to Krispy Kreme at Martin Luther King Jr. and Vermont avenues. Since traffic is already heavy in that area of the city, most of the work will be done at night and is expected to take 3-4 weeks.
▪ The parking garage planned on Government Street in as part of a development in downtown is in the final design stages, Holloway said.
▪ Instead of Halloween downtown, Ocean Springs will have a haunted house at the Mary C O’Keefe Performing Arts Center, Holloway said, and add to it each year.
▪ Holloway said he appointed Joe Cloyd to chair a homeless task force. Tupelo has reduced its homeless population by about 60%, Holloway said, and is going to work with Ocean Springs to find compassionate solutions.
Ocean Springs has a new messaging systems to keep residents informed. CodeRED provides information on weather emergencies, road closures, events and other notices by phone, text message, email, social media or mobile app.
Residents can go online to oceansprings-MS.gov and click Code Red Emergency Notifications or text OCEANSPRINGS to 99411 to enroll.
This story was originally published September 16, 2021 at 5:50 AM.
