How Highway 57 construction could impact Vancleave

Road work for Highway 57 is in full swing. The $212.6 million project aims to widen the road in Vancleave from two lanes to four and alleviate traffic.

“The MDOT Highway 57 project is a ten-mile four-lane project. It will construct four new lanes on Highway 57 from i-10 to the north of Vancleave,” said Gabe Faggard, senior project manager at Neel-Schaffer. “This project involves constructing three interchanges. One at Gautier-Vancleave Road, another that will be a connector into downtown Vancleave, and another at the Jim Ramsey Road intersection.”

In simple terms, the Mississippi Department of Transportation has created an interstate-like highway running through Vancleave.

The entire project will take at least three years to complete and has been in the works since the 1990s.

Usually, road work equals road closures, but Neel-Schaffer, the engineering company overseeing the construction, is trying to avoid causing more traffic jams.

“The impact on traffic will be minimal for now. As we get closer to completion, we have to start making some traffic shifts,” Faggard said. “There will be some of those [road closures], but we will let the public know well in advance.”

So, why build an entirely new Highway 57?

Between people trying to get to work and people trying to get to school, the traffic in front of Vancleave High School has gotten out of hand.

Locals tell us that as Vancleave continues to grow, the traffic has only gotten worse.

BJ’s Cafe owner Amy Byrd Williams says every change has its ups and downs.

“Three years of construction is going to be a lot. I see negative and positive right now. It does cause some issues in the mornings. The traffic is backed up really bad. You hear a lot of complaints,” she said. “You can’t make everybody happy, but I think in the long run it’s so beneficial. It’s putting us on the map. We’re growing.”

Only time will tell how the bypass affects the town.