Motorists on Atkinson Road in west Biloxi will find it easier to turn north onto Popp’s Ferry Road once the city completes a $277,000 project that will upgrade the busy intersection a block south of the Popp’s Ferry bridge.
City contractors this week have been preparing the site and plan to officially begin construction April 5 and complete the 150-day project in September.
“In addition to adding a diagonal turning lane from Atkinson to Popp’s Ferry, we’ll be installing enhanced LED traffic signals that will be cantilevered instead of having the signals hanging from wires, and we’ll re-pave and re-stripe the entire intersection,” Mayor A.J. Holloway said. “The new traffic control system also will allow us to tie the synchronization into new traffic signals that we’ll be adding in several months on all major Pass Road intersections in Biloxi.”
The Atkinson-Popp’s project will include minor widening on Old Bay Road immediately west of the Atkinson-Popp’s Ferry intersection and minor widening of Popp’s Ferry Road north and south of the intersection.
Almost 20,000 vehicles travel Popp’s Ferry Road on an average day, and about 5,000 travel Atkinson Road on an average day, according to traffic counts compiled by Gulf Regional Planning Commission, a planning agency that helped obtain federal funding for the Atkinson-Popp’s Ferry intersection improvements.
Some temporary lane closures may be required during the work, but not detours are planned. To see how road improvement work is impacting traffic citywide, click here.
