South MS leaders want new study on Buc-ee’s traffic. Here are the details

Harrison County leaders are asking for a traffic study two months after a stream of cars started arriving at the new Buc-ee’s Travel Center near Pass Christian.

The county Board of Supervisors is seeking solutions off Interstate 10 at Exit 24, where some neighbors are complaining of backups that stretch up Firetower Road.

“Hopefully we can make some modifications or do something to expedite that traffic, especially during peak times,” said Marlin Ladner, a supervisor who represents the area.

I-10 traffic has mostly flowed smoothly since Buc-ee’s opened in June. But Ladner said on days when Buc-ee’s is especially busy, cars swarm the store’s roundabout entrance and southbound drivers struggle to pass through.

In an email to the Gulf Regional Planning Commission, which funds such studies, Harrison County Board of Supervisors President Nathan Barrett said the county expects more commercial and residential growth will further strain the area’s traffic. New stores are already open across the street from Buc-ee’s, and neighbors have rallied in recent months against subdivisions proposed nearby.

The county wants to examine how to improve traffic at the roundabout, Barrett said. Leaders also hope to evaluate whether the county should make roads bigger or add more traffic signals. They are asking the Gulf Regional Planning Commission to fund a $10,000 study.

Kenneth Yarrow, executive director at the Gulf Regional Planning Commission, said the study will consider whether the county should divert traffic or even build new roads. The work will be contracted to a consultant who will observe traffic patterns. Yarrow said it would start in a few months and probably take six months to nine months to finish.

The state and county prepared for the influx of Buc-ee’s customers by expanding the I-10 ramps and replacing the Menge Avenue bridge.

Anna Ehrgott, a public information officer at the Mississippi Department of Transportation, said the agency has also been monitoring traffic at Exit 24 and adjusting traffic signals on an “as-needed basis.”