Road project moving closer to construction in Gulfport
Big changes are in the works for how drivers get through Harrison County. Interconnecting Gulfport, a $54 million road project, is moving closer to construction after nearly a decade of planning.
Michelle Pinto with the Roy Howard Community Journalism Center takes a closer look at what the project could mean for traffic and the concerns about flooding and wetlands.
The project would build a new overpass west of Highway 49 to connect the Airport Road area south of Interstate 10 with Daniel Boulevard to the north.
City officials say the new route could help ease traffic and give emergency vehicles another way across the interstate.
Gulfport resident J.E. Lawrence says traffic is already a problem in the area, especially during rush hour. “Putting an (overpass) in could alleviate a lot of the traffic problems that we see, especially from Airport Road to, say, around the Crossroads Mall area. It’s very congested there during the day, especially at 5 o’clock when everybody’s getting off work.”
But a traffic study shows the project may not solve all of the area’s congestion problems.
It looked at what traffic could be like in 2045.
The study found that delays at Highway 49 and Airport Road could get worse, whether the new road is built or not.
And some environmental advocates are raising concerns about flooding and wetlands.
Katherine Egland is a co-founder of the environmental group EEECHO. She says the project could increase flooding in nearby neighborhoods. “I’m all about economic advancement, but this does not have to be at the expense of the environment.”
The city says it expanded a planned detention pond to help reduce flooding from heavy rainfall.
That change increased the project’s estimated impact on wetlands from 66 acres to more than 98.
But Egland says her group still wants answers about why the city chose this route. “We’ve asked the former mayor and the current mayor for a meeting to help better understand why they would select this road over much better alternatives, and they have declined to meet with us to explain why.”
The Federal Highway Administration determined in 2022 that the selected route would not have a significant environmental impact.
That meant a more detailed environmental impact statement was not required.
The project is expected to be finished by May 2029. The city has not responded to follow up questions about whether its drainage projections were updated after changes to the project.
