How many people will lose their homes if CSX is relocated?
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According to Barbour, Pass Road is just a tiny 4-lane street without turn lanes. http://www.gulflive.com/news/mississippipress/index.ssf?/base/news/1145441752311440.xml
Funny the last time I drove on it (pre-Katrina) it had turn lanes and I definitely wouldn’t have described it as little. In Pascagoula, Gautier, and Ocean Springs besides Highway 90, which by the way is North of the railroad in those cities, we also have Government Street. While it is smaller then Pass Road in Biloxi, it does an adequate job of moving the traffic in Jackson County. We hardly need another road a stones throw away from the current Highway 90, and sandwiched in between Highway 90 and Government Street. Make no mistake the CSX project will only be of benefit to two cities Biloxi and Gulfport. And one has to wonder why they have a louder voice then the rest of the MS Gulf Coast. Could it be because Jackson County voted against casinos and Harrison County has them?
As for not being able to evacuate people, here is a novel idea, why not use the rail lines? Certainly it wouldn’t be too much to ask that a passenger train be sent to evacuate people in times of emergency. And it would be a solution for all the people who do not have a private vehicle to evacuate in.
I had a friend recently ask me Which terrorist organization are you the most afraid of Al Qaeda or MDOT (Mississippi Department of Transportation)? Sadly I am forced to say………………………MDOT! How many will people will lose their homes in order to realign the New Highway 90 in Harrison County with the Old Highway 90 in Jackson County when they finally get around to rebuilding the Biloxi-Ocean Springs Bridge? How many people will lose their homes in order to create the Scenic Beach Blvd (current Highway 90) the business people envision? How many people will lose their homes along the route of the New Highway 90? And how many people will lose their homes in order to create spurs from CSX’s new location to their customers on the coast? These questions should be answered before the federal government gives MS a dime to spend on relocating the CSX railroad.