Mississippi Coast Benefits from U.S. Spending on Post-Katrina Projects

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The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has 15 post-Hurricane Katrina coastal recovery projects on the Mississippi Gulf Coast budgeted at $132 million, including projects costing $30.5 million in Jackson County.

Susan Rees, program manager for the corps’ Mississippi Coastal Improvements Program, said the corps’ Mississippi projects were first authorized for $107 million in 2007, then another $25 million was added after Hurricane Gustav.

This week, a billion-dollar coastal restoration plan will be sent to Congress and the Obama administration for review, Rees said. The proposals include $479 million for barrier island restoration and $408 million to buy up to 2,000 parcels of property in areas that are at high risk for storm damage.

In Jackson County, Rees said reinforcing the approaches to the bridge at the Ocean Springs Harbor was the first of the projects completed, Rees said. The $1.5 million bridge work began in September and was completed about a month ago.

Rees said the other four projects in Jackson County are in the Pecan community, Pascagoula, Gautier and Moss Point.

In Pecan, the corps is acquiring 149 acres and purchasing 29 homes. The residents will be relocated out of the 100-year flood plain. The $6 million project is to be followed by another that restores the land to native wet pine savanna.

A $14 million Pascagoula project involves repairing the Beach Boulevard seawall and drainage, and constructing a 1.5-mile sand beach from the city’s park to the Point.

About 900,000 cubic yards of sand will be piped seven miles from the Pascagoula River to the beach. The sand will come from an area between U.S. Highway 90 and Interstate 10. Sausage-like tubes will be filled with sand to form the beach perimeter.

The project that began about two weeks ago will take eight to nine months, Rees said.

About $8 million in sedimentation and debris removal has begun in Gautier. The intent is to clear stormwater drainage in local watersheds.

Rees said clearing of Upper Bayou Casotte in Moss Point began in June and is similar to the Gautier work. Canals will be cleared for stormwater drainage in a project costing $1 million.