Groundbreaking on Courthouse Road

Courthouse Road is one of the busiest streets in Gulfport. This is where a new multimillion dollar projects comes in. News 25’s Caroline Eaker gives us a look at what the city has mapped out for an improvement project.
With the turn of the dirt, the Courthouse Road improvement project officially got underway at a groundbreaking Thursday morning, but city leaders have been paving the way for this multi-million dollar project for quite some time. Gulfport Mayor Billy Hewes said, “We have been working on it for over four years now. It’s a big collaboration with a lot of our departments just planning in advance and hoping the money would become available and it did and this is where we could use it. So we could put it to good use and finally get Courthouse Road in good condition.”
And safer. Besides paving Courthouse Road from Pass Road to Highway 90, a pedestrian crossing signal will be installed at 33rd Street near Gulfport High School. There will also be medians from Perry Street South to Highway 90 with four lanes and a well-lit path for those who travel on foot and on two wheels instead of four. “There’s going to be a nice sidewalk for pedestrians and bicycles. There’s going to be a median in it. It’s going to be a proper street escape that’s going to transform the look of the area,” said Mayor Hewes.
Home to many shops and businesses, Courthouse Road is not very user friendly, but after the addition of sidewalks and crosswalks that will change. “This is one of the heaviest used streets in our area. It’s a big retail corridor in the downtown area. It’s been in poor condition for quite some time,” said Mayor Hewes.
The nearly six million dollar project is funded by the city and Federal Highway Administration with funds administered through the Gulf Regional Planning Commission. Mississippi Power has already given the project a boost by relocating power poles and upgrading electrical equipment in the area.