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21st Century Operations Using 21st Century Technologies

Traffic Bottlenecks

Traffic Bottlenecks > Combating Bottlenecks

Combating Bottlenecks

Mississippi

Using the shoulders to add capacity to I-10 following the loss of the US 90 bridge over Biloxi Bay as a result of Hurricane Katrina.

Bottleneck Project: When the bridge on US 90 across Biloxi Bay was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, the ADT on I-10 went from 57,000 (pre-Katrina) to 64,000 (post-Katrina). In order to alleviate the new crush of traffic, minor widening and full-depth paving allowed the shoulders to be used as additional lanes to alleviate congestion. Originally, this work was to be temporary, until such time as the US 90 bridge could be replaced. However, the $2.3M shoulder improvement will stay permanent, along with some other planned future improvements to I-10. The pre-Katrina LOS was "C" when there were only two lanes in each direction. Following the hurricane, the LOS was "E" until such time as the shoulders were added to create three lanes in each direction. The LOS dropped back to "C" in this 3.2 mile stretch of I-10.