Protest challenges MDOT connector plan

Tag : Connector

MDOT's controversial Canal Road connector project, which includesan elevated expressway through downtown, is split into two phases.
Phase I is a thoroughfare running from Interstate 10 to 28thStreet, with overpasses at intersections and a tie-in to 30thAvenue. Phase II is the elevated stretch from 28th Street to thePort of Gulfport.
Wayne Brown, MDOT's Southern District chief, has said theenvironmental work on those two parts already has been done.
But today the state Department of Environmental Quality will ruleon a water quality certificate for Phase I, and state Sen. DebbieDawkins, D-Pass Christian, said MDOT still must seek permits fromthe Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Environmental ProtectionAgency.
"They have not been granted a permit yet," Dawkins said. "And Iconstantly hear about how MDOT is out of money and I can'tunderstand who would have authorized them to begin buying propertywhen they don't even have a permit yet."
MDOT has used its power of eminent domain to take many propertiesalong the proposed route.
Environmental activists said the destruction of wetlands would leadto a decline in water quality in the surrounding communities, aloss of wildlife habitat and increased vulnerability to flooding.
"Who is going to control Wayne Brown and this wasteful spending?"said Howard Page, a board member of the North Gulfport CommunityLand Trust. "This is a bad project and completely unnecessary.There is no one advocating this particular project except forMDOT."
In June the federal government released more than $1.8 million forenvironmental studies and design of parts of the new road.
In a written statement announcing the money, Sen. Roger Wicker saidthe new road will "provide a safer and more streamlined route forCoast residents, Coast visitors and freight traffic originatingfrom the Port of Gulfport."
Community activist Rose Johnson doesn't see it that way.
"The local, state and federal agencies are well aware of how thefill of wetlands harm low-income communities," she said. "Thefill-up of these 162 acres of wetlands will devastate thesurrounding African-American communities."