July 22, 2001

06/24/03

WEST BANK -- A flashing yellow sign on Jerry St. Pe Highway summed up the big story of the day on Monday: "New bridge open; proceed with caution."

For the first time in 50 years, traffic can flow without stopping from Oak Street in Gautier to Pascagoula Street. All eight lanes of the $48 million U.S. 90 high-rise opened for the first time Monday morning. The project means motorists will no longer be slowed by the drawbridge or the traffic light on eastbound U.S. 90 at Jerry St. Pe Highway.

Commuters are already giving the bridge their stamp of approval. "It's all right with me," said Robert Knight of Moss Point as he and his carpool stopped to fuel up in the shadow of the high-rise.

"We don't have to deal with all that traffic," he said. "We can just keep on going."

Thowanda Adams lives in Pascagoula but works at the Beau Rivage Casino in Biloxi. Her commute brings her across the East Pascagoula River. While her judgment was more reserved, she said she could already see a positive impact on her daily trip.

"I guess it's OK," she said.

Her trip across the river was notably shorter.

"It didn't take as long as probably about five minutes," she said.

At 5 p.m. Monday, traffic was flowing smoothly in both directions. The westbound lanes were moving at 50-55 miles per hour despite the posted speed limit of 45 miles per hour; the eastbound lanes, however, were traveling at 55-60 miles per hour, well above the posted limit of 35.

One local business that depends on getting places in a hurry is Acadian Ambulance. Operations manager Jimmy Phares said being able to travel back and forth between the East and West Banks without the drawbridge ends years of worry.

"Over the last 212 years, we've had the telephone number to the drawbridge in our ambulances so we could call ahead and ask if the bridge was up," he said. "We won't have to worry about the drawbridge any more."

In addition to making it easier to respond to emergency calls Phares said the elimination of the drawbridge bottleneck might cut down on traffic accidents.

"We're hoping that will alleviate some of those minor accidents you have in slow-moving traffic.

Todd Adams, Jackson County Civil Defense director, said the new bridge presents a new host of concerns for hurricane season.

"Once winds got over 30 or 35 miles per hour the old bride was closed to water transportation," he said.

While the high-rise will allow for an unimpeded flow of river traffic at all times, he said motor vehicle traffic might not be able to cross at certain times.

While other area high-rise bridges like the one on Alabama 193 connecting Dauphin Island to Alabama Port close when the winds reach a certain speed, Adams said his agency does not have the authority to close bridges, but urges motorists to remember wind speeds are higher farther away from the ground.

"We advise people once the winds get to be 39 miles per hour you need to be off of the roadways whether it's a neighborhood street or a high-rise."

06/24/03

PASCAGOULA -- In one last act of defiance, the 50-year-old East Pascagoula River drawbridge was raised at 6:53 p.m. Monday, making the last three vehicles to cross wait one last time before the span officially closed.

A cargo pushboat made its way through the bridge's channels as the three winners of Pascagoula Main Street's Drawbridge Drawdown contest waited to be honored as the last motorists over the drawbridge. The old bridge is being replaced by the new $48 million high-rise bridge that opened its remaining eastbound four lanes Monday morning.

Members of the Pascagoula City Council placed the highest bid, $250, followed by Tim and Darlene Broussard's $100 bid and Stephen and Becky Venus' $50.

All bidders are from Pascagoula.

More than three dozen people attended the event, including Warren Gautier and Susan Ford Robertson, both of whom cut the ribbon for the opening of the drawbridge in 1953.

"I'm just really proud that we're all together and getting to do this, to share our memories on this historic day," Main Street Manager Rebecca Davis said.

Councilwoman Bebe Sutherland suggested council members pool their money together and make a bid for the honor. They were awarded a plaque commemorating Sutherland's convertible which contained her, Mayor Joe Cole, Councilmen Mike Mangum, Joe Abston and Abston's 3-year-old daughter, Maggie, as the last to cross the bridge.

The plaque will hang in City Hall.

"It's kind of exciting that the council gets to be the last car across," Cole said. "It's been a long time waiting."

It was a special day for Darlene Broussard and her family. Her late father, Floyd Sheldon, came to Pascagoula in the early 1950s as the superintendent to help oversee the drawbridge's construction.

"This is kind of like our family bridge," she said.

Her husband placed their bid as her surprise wedding anniversary present.

"We celebrated our 27th anniversary Friday and did a few things but Tim hadn't given me a card or anything and I thought, that's not like my husband.' And then this afternoon, he told me get dressed, your anniversary present's here,'" she said.

Broussard's mother, Helen Sheldon, 84, was a passenger in the Broussards' minivan for the last trek.

"Mother was a little worried about crossing the new bridge because Daddy didn't help build that one," Broussard said.

Helen Sheldon said Monday was a bittersweet moment.

"That (drawbridge) was pretty big for back then," she said.

Ironically, today marks the eighth anniversary of Floyd Sheldon's death. Floyd Sheldon would have been proud of the new high-rise, Helen Sheldon said.

"He was always for progress," she said.

Liz Ford, chairwoman of the Pascagoula Historic Preservation Commission, cited the adage "a time to laugh and a time to cry" to commemorate the drawbridge's use, "but we're also looking forward to the new bridge and no delays."

Leona McGinty's late husband, B.E. "Mac" McGinty, the man after which the Jackson County Civic Center is named, was the general foreman for Texas Construction during the drawbridge's construction.

McGinty said her husband, who spearheaded numerous community endeavors, would also have enjoyed the progress the new high-rise is helping bring for Pascagoula.

"It's kind of sad because it's something that he helped create, but that's OK. It can't be there forever," McGinty said. "I'm really proud of the new bridge we have, but I realized we've just got to go forward."

She said she got a strange feeling as she crossed the bridge last week.

"I realized I wouldn't be crossing Mac's Bridge, as I called it," she said.

Priscilla Eubanks said her father, Clifton C. Bryant, was vice superintendent of the drawbridge and sold the first ticket-book which contained tickets used by motorists to cross the bridge when tolls were collected to pay for its construction.

"He was there until they stopped selling ticket-books," she said. "He loved it."

Bryant's role included reporting to Jackson the number of motorists crossing the bridge and the amount of money collected.

"Back then, it was people just going to work. That was also before we had the (Ingalls) West Bank and Interstate 10," Eubanks said.

Annette Leopard of Lucedale, a drawbridge tender for 20 years, was not notified about the ceremony and continued to do her job with the raising of the drawbridge.

Kelly Castleberry, project engineer with the Mississippi Department of Transportation, said tenders will continue to service maritime traffic crossing underneath the bridge until July 8 when crews will begin to dismantle the steel grate that rises for boats.

Pascagoula police officials said they could be considered as one of the happiest groups to see the new high-rise completely open, replacing years of handling wrecks or traffic jams on the half-century span that would occur anytime of day in all kinds of weather.

Also, the use of the high-rise by Northrop Grumman, Naval Station Pascagoula and port businesses will alleviate traffic problems.

The new obstacle is speeding, not traffic brought to a halt anymore. Speed limit signs are posted on both sides of the bridge, but motorists don't seem to notice them.

The money raised with the drawbridge bids taken Monday will go toward historic signage between Main Street and the Pascagoula Historic Preservation Commission.