Bridgezilla

Biloxi Sun-Herald OpEd, December 29, 2005
MDOT's message is clear: Cross us at your peril
By Julia Weaver [Ocean Springs Alderman]

It's time to get a few things straight about the Mississippi Department of Transportation, the City of Ocean Springs, and the Ocean Springs-Biloxi Bridge. MDOT's insistence on rebuilding this bridge to interstate highway size, and Ocean Springs' equal insistence on a smaller bridge that will not interfere with community planning efforts, has led to divisiveness at a time when our communities need to work together.

The first thing to get clear is the size of the respective proposals. MDOT proposes a high rise bridge with a total of 10 lanes - six lanes of traffic and four "breakdown" lanes. The bridge will be wider than many interstate highway bridges, and far wider than the Golden Gate Bridge.

Ocean Springs and the planners and traffic engineers who took part in the Governor's Commission on Renewal, on the other hand, propose a high rise bridge with six lanes - four lanes of traffic and two "breakdown" lanes. Contrary to some claims, this bridge will not have a drawbridge.

Second, we should be clear about why the City of Ocean Springs has withdrawn its approval of the ten lane bridge. Ocean Springs is committed to the planning process that was created during the Governor's Commission on Renewal. This planning process would allow Highway 90 to function as a scenic boulevard and main street that will add value to homes, retail businesses and casinos all along the Coast. Implementing this vision will make the Mississippi Coast a world class destination, and will mean better economic opportunities and a better standard of living for decades to come.

A ten lane bridge is intended to serve a highway with a minimum of six traffic lanes - effectively an interstate along our beaches - and will undermine or kill this plan. In fact, MDOT states in its documents that its models show a six lane highway from Gulfport all the way through Ocean Springs. The citizens, planners and engineers who worked so hard to develop plans that would make the Mississippi Coast a model should not have their work undone by a single state agency, before the debris is even cleared.

Ocean Springs also withdrew its approval of the ten lane bridge because the original approval was secured based on claims by MDOT that later proved to be dead wrong. MDOT stated on several occasions that the ten lane bridge it proposed was required by Federal Highway Administration regulations, and that the bridge design must be approved immediately or federal funding would be lost. Neither of these statements is correct. The Federal Highway Administration would approve a smaller bridge, and funding is not contingent on any particular design.

Why does MDOT claim that ten lanes are needed? The agency says that traffic volumes twenty years in the future require such a bridge. The Federal Highway Administration recently made available the MDOT traffic projections. These projections consist of a one and one quarter page memorandum which state that it is a "cursory analysis," and that prior to Hurricane Katrina, this area was growing at 3% annually. In fact, a 3% growth rate is not supported by historical experience. In addition, MDOT never considered whether better planning would reduce traffic levels.

Ask yourself: should a "cursory analysis" be the entire basis for a decision of this magnitude, with the kind of consequences this decision will have? The community of Ocean Springs and the citizens of the coast should not be rushed into accepting a bad design, based on bad information and less than two pages of "cursory analysis."

In fact, MDOT has never addressed the real merits of a six lane bridge sized to meet the real needs of the Gulf Coast. The nationally known planners and engineers who participated in the Governor's Commission uniformly state that a ten lane bridge is not needed, and will in fact be harmful to local planning efforts.

MDOT also claims that its design must be accepted or the bridge will be delayed for years. This is absolutely not true. An alternative design in keeping with local planning efforts can be reviewed and bid in no more than eight weeks, and can be built more quickly than the ten lane monster MDOT demands. MDOT has not even accepted bids on the bridge project yet.

Let's get this straight: a six lane high-rise bridge will meet our traffic needs for the next 20 years, can be built more quickly and less expensively than the ten lane bridge proposed by MDOT, and will allow municipalities, including Ocean Springs, to have control of their local planning processes.

One final aspect of the bridge drama shouldn't go unnoticed. Ocean Springs - and particularly Mayor Connie Moran - have come in for mean-spirited, personal attack from MDOT and its surrogates. Why? For doing their job, and insisting that alternatives that preserve the future of Ocean Spring get realistic consideration. The message from MDOT to local leaders is clear: cross us at your peril.

As we struggle to rebuild, the Coast deserves better.

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Julia Weaver is the Alderman at Large for the city of Ocean Springs.