Libby Milner Roland Municipal Pier reopens in Gulfport

GULFPORT, Miss. (WXXV) — The City of Gulfport celebrated a special ribbon cutting on Thursday afternoon.

The Libby Milner Roland Municipal Pier has officially reopened, six years after it was damaged by Hurricane Zeta. It is the final pier restoration for Gulfport relating to that 2020 storm.

Through the Hazard Mitigation Plan established by the city and FEMA, this pier, as well as three others, were restored with enhancements. These include concrete pile caps, flow-through decking and stainless steel hardware.

“This pier and the other ones — the Urie Pier, the Moses Pier and the Ken Combs Pier — are all built of similar quality construction,” Mayor Hugh Keating of Gulfport said. “We expect that they’ll be able to withstand a Zeta-like storm — I don’t know that anything could withstand a Katrina, but at least a Zeta-like storm — and at least be able to get back in operation with much, much less damage to repair. So, we’re really excited about this.”

Keating went on to thank contractors Gulf Breeze Construction and Covington Engineering, as well as local and state leaders, for their help with the project.