We are a growing group of local citizens on the Mississippi Gulf Coast fed up with MDOT's plans to build a pork-barrel monster bridge over Biloxi Bay that won't be finished for two to three years. The Coast needs a temporary bridge linking Biloxi and Ocean Springs immediately, not two years &mdash or longer &mdash from now.  

MDOT has taken Federal emergency recovery money, but rather than using that funding to accommodate the area's immediate needs for a working bridge over Biloxi Bay, they've chosen to propose the largest bridge they can secure funding for &mdash a bridge which doesn't even meet the long-term requirements of Coast communities. In their rush to pass this mega-project off as an emergency relief effort, they've ignored the Coast's plans to adopt a modern transportation plan for traffic management and walkability, and ignored actual traffic numbers and their own upcoming bridge projects to justify a phenomenal and unforgivable waste of Federal recovery funds. More recently we learned they also ignored the needs of Harrison County Development Commission for a drawbridge, so MDOT's bridge will literally be a blockade to economic expansion.  

Worst of all, by passing off a massive project as "emergency relief" when we need practical solutions, they've guaranteed we'll be without a bridge until at least 2008, causing untold damage to the area's economic recovery. The delays associated with building MDOT's "bridgezilla" are already building up: in spite of local protests, MDOT insists they are legally authorized and proceeding apace, but they've already been forced to delay awarding the contract by nearly two months due to engineering problems and difficulty obtaining enough funding for such a huge project. But this is just a taste of the delays we're likely to see if we allow them to continue with this project. Now their considering whether to go back to the drawing board to add a drawbridge they forgot about. If you lose your house, you find emergency shelter for your family first: you don't leave your kids out in the rain while you plan the Taj Mahal and debate wallpaper samples. If MDOT would simply do emergency repairs on the existing bridge, we could worry about grandiose plans later.  

Tired as we may be, it's up to us &mdash the residents of the Coast who care about the place and its return to a healthy, beautiful future with prosperity and quality of life for all its residents &mdash to see that our politicians toe the line, and make the right choices now for a quick and cost-effective recovery.

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