BILOXI, MS
Helping traffic flow more smoothly on the Mississippi Gulf Coast
Neel-Schaffer was selected by the City of Biloxi to provide engineering design and CE&I services for a project to widen and make significant improvements to a one-mile section of Popp’s Ferry Road, the only continuous east-west corridor connecting Biloxi and the City of D’Iberville. This section of roadway serves as a major commercial thoroughfare for both cities.
Construction for the $6.7 million LPA project was completed in February 2017, alleviating congestion, enhancing safety, improving sewer lines, upgrading drainage, and raising the aesthetic appeal of the route. The project limits stretch from the intersection of Popp’s Ferry Road and Cedar Lake Road, east to Gay Road/Lamey Street at the D’Iberville city limits.
The existing section of roadway was two lanes, with open-ditch drainage. It was widened to four lanes, with curbs and gutters, a raised median, center turn bays, a five-foot sidewalk and a 10-foot multi-use path. The comprehensive project included new sanitary sewer infrastructure with the construction of a new regional lift station, and improvements to the Lamey Street Lift Station. In addition, the project installed upgraded lighting at the intersection of Popp’s Ferry Road and Cedar Lake Road that includes lighted street signs, and new mast-arm traffic signals.
The original project design called for five lanes, with a center turn lane throughout the length of the improved area, but at the request of the City of Biloxi, Neel-Schaffer engineers modified the design after construction had started. The changes to the design were completed and implemented with no impact to the project budget and only minimal impacts to the overall project schedule.
This is the fourth phase of Popp’s Ferry improvements that Neel-Schaffer has completed. In addition to design and CE&I, our firm provided environmental and right-of-way services for this phase, finishing the Environmental Assessment in 2008. The ROW acquisition was completed in 2010, clearing and grubbing was completed in 2013, and construction began in late 2015.
Funding was provided by the Federal Highway Administration through the Mississippi Department of Transportation’s LPA program (80 percent) and the City of Biloxi (20 percent).
In addition to serving as a major evacuation route, Popp’s Ferry is classified as a principal arterial west of Cedar Lake Road and as a minor arterial east of Cedar Lake. It also provides access to Interstate 10 via a five-lane section of Cedar Lake Road that is approximately one-half mile long.
