BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. – Hancock County residents want to mark the reopening of a key connection to the rest of the Gulf Coast with the biggest party they have ever thrown. There’s just one catch: They don’t know when to schedule it.
The opening of a new Highway 90 bridge to replace the span that was lost 20 months ago to Hurricane Katrina is expected by the middle of this month, but the precise date isn’t yet known.
Contractor Granite Archer Western is racing to finish two lanes of the 1.9-mile concrete span over the Bay of St. Louis between Hancock County in the west and Harrison County in the east by mid-May to earn a $5 million bonus. State and federal officials will want to open the roadway as soon as it can carry traffic. That leaves the party planners scratching their heads about just when to schedule their gala, which they’d like to hold on the bridge itself.
Timing aside, there’s no shortage of ideas about how to celebrate.
“It’s a big party so let’s party,” said businesswoman Tina Stiglet, who serves on a Hancock County Chamber of Commerce committee that is planning the festivities. Stiglet and 20 other county movers and shakers gathered on a recent afternoon to brainstorm the event. Ideas ranged from military flyovers to marching bands and celebrity appearances.
Hancock County Chancery Clerk Tim Kellar offered his notion of “the joining of the entire coast again, hand-to-hand” across the bridge, perhaps using schoolchildren in a simple yet spectacular production.
Chamber Executive Director Tish Williams envisioned “a white-tablecloth party, just a huge party.”
The anticipation is fitting for a $267 million project that will cut 40 miles off the typical post-Katrina round trip between Hancock and Harrison counties. The bridge also will put shoppers in western Harrison County much closer to the rapidly recovering commercial sectors in Waveland and Bay St. Louis than they are now to the alternatives in Gulfport and Biloxi.
The best guess at this point as to when the work will be done is May 16, according to Kent Dussom of URS, the engineering firm that is managing the project. So May 17 has been chosen as the anticipated date for the party.
The bridge is one of several vital links in Southern Mississippi that were swept away by Katrina’s surging storm waters. The CSX railroad bridge across the Bay of St. Louis, just south of Highway 90, was put back in operation six months after the storm. To the east, a second Highway 90 span between Biloxi and Ocean Springs, should see two lanes completed in the fall, around the same time the final two lanes of the Bay St. Louis bridge open.
“It’s like opening up to the new world again,” said Buz Olsen, economic development director for Bay St. Louis. “It’s like a brand new day.”
Read previous stories on the construction of the bridge:
Bridging the bay, healing the pain
Gambling going like gangbusters
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The date is set: Thursday, May 17th. A ceremony will be held at 2pm on the Bay St. Louis side of the bridge. Classic Cars will be the first to cross over the bridge from the Pass Christian Side. A large celebration---free and open to the public---is planned from 4-8pm along North Beach Blvd to the Bay-Waveland Yacht Club. We are calling it Bridge Fest. Hollywood Casino & Golf Resort will be the major sponsor providing resources to bring this event to the citizens of the Mississippi Coast. It is a welcomed opportunity to celebrate a significant milestone in recovery. The Bay Bridge is Back and it is stunning. Come see us and help us celebrate as we connect the Bay-Waveland Area and Pass Christian to the Mississippi Coast. Tish Williams, Hancock Chamber.
Tish, Bay St. Louis, MS (Sent Apr 30, 2007 5:43:27 PM)
Congratulations!! That picture makes my heart smile:)
Katie Clark (Sent Apr 30, 2007 7:18:15 PM)
It is so heartwarming to see progress coming back to the gulf port area!! I was there in Sept.& Oct.just after Katrina, with the Red Cross, I worked in the shelter in Pass Christian, met many amazing people,including Ms.Charlotte Fairley!! Best of luck
Millie Skamperle, Laurinburg,NC (Sent Apr 30, 2007 11:16:36 PM)
Tish... As a former resident of Biloxi and now a resident of Mobile, I / we will be there for the grand opening. I am so proud of the way everyone on the coast pitched in and got the job done without all of the whinning and moaning like those to the west of you in New Orleans... who expected everyone to come in do all of the work and them expect the glory. All we heard from those in the cresent City was how bad they were treated... PLEASE...... God Bless you all in the Mississippi Gulf Coast area.
Danny (Sent Apr 30, 2007 11:47:36 PM)
That is great news about your bridge being about to re-open! The ceremony sounds fun--wish I could be there! And thanks to MSNBC for bringing "Rising from Ruin" back--I missed getting regular updates out of Mississippi when nothing new was being posted.
I wish, however, that Danny hadn't brought up all the negative, erroneous stereotypes which have often been spouted by those against rebuilding New Orleans--about New Orleanians "whining and moaning," and saying they "expected everyone to come in and do all of the work...." This is unfair.
I regularly read the Times-Picayune, Baton Rouge Advocate, and other Louisiana papers online and from them have received the impression that the people trying to make a go of it in New Orleans are really working as hard as they can to clean up and rebuild their beloved city.
What Danny derogatorily might call "whining and moaning" is the legitimate call for federal help from city officials, etc. knowing how complex and costly it is to rebuild infrastructure (water, power, sewer systems, roads, etc. plus such much-needed social structures as the school system, the health care system, and the justice system.) As they have in Mississippi, volunteers have been in New Orleans and nearby parishes helping clean up and rebuild people's homes. And neighbors have also been helping neighbors--but they can't do everything, including the difficult work of repairing infrastructure.
Back to the bridge--here's to a wonderful future!
Olivia (Sent May 1, 2007 1:39:08 PM)
This is so important to our community. Thanks to all of the workers who spent 24/7 to get this bridge done in less than a year. I will be taking the day off from work to be there for every minute of the celebration!
Angela Sallis, Bay St Louis (Sent May 1, 2007 2:11:08 PM)
I grew up in the area and an so happy the bridge will be opening. It will be so wonderful to have the two areas joined together again, just to be able to drive highway 90 from Pass Christian to Bay St. Louis will be great. I live in Arizona now but this is the area i Call "home."
Betty (Sent May 6, 2007 10:50:26 AM)
Ours was the first house north of Hwy 90 on Beach Blvd in Bay St Louis and the bridge was our lifeline to the rest of the coast. Congratulations to all who accomplished this stage of completion. We're in central Florida right now, but I'm sure we'll be back, if only for short intervals. The coast and the people who live/lived there provided the best kind of lifestyle, and we miss it, and them, very much.
Van Ness Tanner, Winter Park, FL (Sent May 17, 2007 5:08:57 PM)
I attended Bridge Fest yesterday. What a great feeling it was to be part of this historical moment! There were so many people there--all brimming with excitement about the new bridge. We've been watching its construction for the past year and now its really here!
Courtney, BSL, MS (Sent May 18, 2007 1:27:43 PM)
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