Not everyone is excited for Black Spring Break

While thousands of visitors pack up and come to Biloxi for Black Spring Break some local residents are headed in the opposite direction.

News 25’s Gina Tomlinson went out to a neighborhood off Highway 90 where residents say the big weekend puts their community in a chaotic situation.

Black Spring Break is this weekend and residents living in neighborhoods off Highway 90 are being forced to prepare for the thousands of visitors expected to roll into Biloxi. Biloxi resident John Compton said, “Residents in this area need to make their plans to try and deal with the traffic.”

A community right by the mall called Edgewater Park Estates is hit with heavy traffic during the Spring Break weekend, a situation that can sometimes turn dangerous. Biloxi resident Linda Reaux said, “A few years back a man had a heart attack and he died before they could get to the hospital.”

Reaux says the traffic from the weekend makes it nearly impossible to get in and out of her neighborhood every year. “We need to get to our jobs. We need to get to our doctor appointments and things like that and you can’t do that. It’s hard to do.”

While some residents in Edgewater Park are headed out of town for Black Spring Break, others intend to stay in all weekend. Some tell News 25 they enjoy the influx of visitors and think it’s good for the Coast. Biloxi resident Avi Zweig said, “In general, everybody is respectful and we like the big crowds. It really lightens up the city.”

Another thing residents say they’re concerned about is the amount of litter that comes with the big crowds every year. “That many people, there’s going to be a certain amount of debris and everything all over the Coast. That was the big thing afterwards, the amount of debris that was left,” said Compton.

Harrison County officials are currently putting out more trash cans on the beach for the weekend. This year, Gulfport and Biloxi police are teaming up to keep one lane open only to emergency vehicles. “I will not be here, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed that everything will run smooth,” said Compton.