Mississippi Department Of Transportation News

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced $7m is being awarded to the Mississippi Department of Transportation, the Virginia Port Authority and the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway Development Authority to support the transportation of marine cargo between U.S. ports. The announcement comes just five weeks after unveiling the America's Marine Highway program, a new initiative to move more cargo on U.S. waterways. The money will help expand an existing marine highway operation in the Gulf of Mexico between Texas and Florida and one on the East Coast between Richmond and Hampton Roads in Virginia. The money will also help start an entirely new all-water service on the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway between Itawamba, Mississippi and the Port of Mobile, Alabama.

Officials at the Mississippi Department of Transportation have hired a consultant to determine whether to offer free ferry services while the two U.S. 90 bridges destroyed by Hurricane Katrina are rebuilt. Experts from Pacific Marine Technology Services of Bainbridge Island, Wash., are expected to be on the Coast this week. The company, which is to be paid about $50,000, will figure out where and how much it could cost to operate ferries. The Federal Highway Administration will pay for ferry costs, including vessels, crews and dock construction, while the bridges are built, Jackson Clarion Ledger reported. Consultants are to look at areas between Ocean Springs and Biloxi that had been linked by the Biloxi Bay Bridge. They also will investigate places near Bay St.