According to ready.gov, evacuations are more common than most people realize. Residents evacuate in the event of fires, floods and hurricanes.
In the majority of these circumstances, regional emergency agencies will issue mandatory evacuations in the event of a natural disaster, the website states.
Residents living in the southernmost parts of Mississippi are fairly familiar with evacuations, due to the threats posed by hurricanes and flooding.
In October of 2013, the Mississippi Department of Transportation began work on the Hwy. 607 expansion project, MDOT Public Information Officer Michael Flood said.
“The project is designed to promote economic development and provide additional lanes for hurricane evacuations to I-59,” Flood said.
MDOT’s part of the road project begins at Texas Flat Road in Hancock County and ends at the on ramp to I-59. Upon completion, there will be four lanes in the north to south corridor, Flood said.
According to previous coverage in the Item, NASA’s Stennis Space Center has completed their section of the road work.
The $15.2 million project was awarded to Poplarville’s TCB Construction Co., Flood said. The project also involves the reconstruction of the existing highway into two northbound lanes.
“Earlier this month, the north and south bound lanes were moved to the newly expanded lanes, so that crews could focus on phase two, which is the reconstruction of the roadway,” Flood said.
Flood said that the project is expected to be completed by October of this year.
Hancock County Emergency Agency Director Brain Adam said that widening the roads is an asset to citizens.
“This road will be more accessible for residents getting out of harm’s way,” Adam said. “I’m sure that MDOT has designed the expansion in such a way as to prevent bottlenecking at the I-59 ramp. However, no matter how well something is planned out, you have to count on having a few issues with mass evacuations.”
Delays go hand in hand with mass evacuations, Adam said. Bottlenecking depends on the amount of people.
“That’s why we ask residents to leave ahead of time,” Adam said.
Pearl River County Emergency Management Director Danny Manley said he is not sure how the new expansion will affect contraflow, but said that having more ways for people to evacuate will definitely help people during emergencies.
“The Pearl River County residents that drive to Stennis will definitely see an improvement, and improvements are always great,” Manley said. “There could be a potential problem with bottlenecking, which could exacerbate the problem. However, evacuation and contraflow always depends on these storms, which are unpredictable. Having these extra routes can only help during evacuations. The more roads the better.”
Learn more about emergency evacuations at www.ready.gov.
Local emergency information can be found at the Pearl River County Emergency Operations website at www.pearlrivercounty.net/civdef/ and through Facebook at Pearl River County EOC and Roads. The website for Hancock County Emergency Agency is www. www.hancockcounty.ms.go and follow them on Facebook at Hancock County, MS Emergency Operations Center.