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THE SEA COAST ECHO • BRIDGES OVER THE BAY
WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 2007 - 15
jQ Antique Maison
111 N. Second Street • Bay St. Louis, MS 39520
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(228) 466-4848
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Markel Industries
501 Hwy 90 Waveland 467-6552	8-4	Mon.	-	Fri.
Granite Construction Company of Watsonville, Ca., a joint venture with Archer Western Contractors of Atlanta, Ga.
The project involved removing what was remaining of the old bridge from the water and constructing a new state-of-the art bridge.
Plans called for the new bridge to be 2.1 miles long. It is 85-feet tall at its highest points and have four 12-foot driving lanes separated by a concrete barrier, and an eight-foot inside shoulder and 10-foot outside shoulder.
The bridge would also be equipped with a 12-foot pedestrian/bicycle lane on its south side.
The bridge - when completely finished - will begin at the same entrance on the corner of Hwy. 90 and Main St.; however, it now ends about 150 feet
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412 Hwy. 90 Suite 2 • Bay St. Louis, MS
Echo staff photo by Geoff Belcher
Employees of Granite-Archer Western work from a barge to finish work on one of the new bridge’s pilings in April.
north of where it did before on the Harrison County side.
Construction on the massive project began on Juh 1. 2006.
For months, local residents were reminded every day that the bridge was coming back. Loud thuds could be heard throughout town as heavy machinery pounded pilings into the sogg\ bottom of the bridge.
Slowly but surely, the bridge began to take shape. By Christmas 2006, the superstructure began to be visible.
The bridge work chugged along with a target date of May 17th, for a partial two-lane opening.
GAW will receive a $5 million bonus if the bridge is complete, officials said. If they do not have the work complete, they will have a $100,000 per day penalty, officials said.
On March, 22 2007 GAW experienced its only setback when one worker was killed and another was injured in a crew boat accident.
The project to date has used more than 35,000
yard of concrete, with more than 320 employees from more than a dozen states putting in more than 450.000 man hours.
"Its an incredible accomplishment," Allen Nelson the GAW project manager said last week. "To do this much work in a short period of time is realh something to be proud of.”
Local leaders have a big day planned for the bridge opening.
A festival will be set up, complete with food and gift booths. There will be an official ceremony at the top of the bridge in which local leaders will be the first people to cross the bridge when they take a bus ride and tie a ribbon.
The partial opening of the bridge will re-connect Bay St. Louis to the rest of the Gulf Coast.
The economic and emotional impact will be enormous, Mayor Eddie Favre said last week.
"Words cannot express how much this means to everyone," he said.
GAW officials said the bridge will be completed in its entirety by Nov. 2007.