All lanes of U.S. 90 in Biloxi – from the tip of the peninsula at Point Cadet to the city’s westernmost boundary at DeBuys Road – will re-open to traffic Wednesday morning at 10, marking a milestone in the city’s Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts.
Biloxi’s debris removal crews this morning were moving a 40-foot tall mound of debris from the northern edge of the highway in west Biloxi, and Public Works crews were erecting street signs at major U.S. 90 intersections in preparation for the re-opening of the 10-mile stretch of highway running along Biloxi’s beachfront.
Initially, 10 intersections will allow access to U.S. 90 in Biloxi: Myrtle Street, Oak Street, Main Street, Caillavet Street, I-110, Porter Avenue, Rodenberg Avenue, Veterans Avenue, Beauvoir Road and DeBuys Road. The intersection at Eisenhower Drive and U.S. 90 also could open, police said.
U.S. 90, which in Biloxi carried as many as 50,000 vehicles on an average pre-Katrina day, has been closed since it was undermined by the Aug. 29 storm.
Since then, Mississippi Department of Transportation contractors have worked to repave or rebuild sections of the highway and storm drain lines that had collapsed under it. Vacuum trucks removed piles of debris that had clogged dozens of storm drains.
Utility workers from Mississippi Power Co. and Georgia Power replaced 176 of the 242 fiberglass light poles that were destroyed by the storm, and the majority of the two dozen traffic signals has been replaced and is scheduled to be operational in time for Wednesday morning..
“The Biloxi segment of U.S. 90 had more street lights, traffic signals and traffic than any section on the Mississippi Gulf Coast,” Mayor A.J. Holloway said. “All of these factors made the repairs quite a challenge, and I want to congratulate MDOT and the crews from Mississippi and Georgia Power for getting this work done.”
