Driving the MS-LA state line is a hot mess. Fix the Highway 90 bridge to NOLA now | Opinion

Driving from the Mississippi Coast into Louisiana is more dangerous than ever.

First, traffic is regularly a hot mess. Between rush hour, wrecks and incident after incident at the East Pearl River bridge, drivers can be stuck on U.S. 90 in Hancock County or on Interstate 10 for hours.

And that’s not including the chaos that is ensuing right now as that aforementioned bridge is — yet again — getting repaired. For the last three days, there have been severe traffic delays for hours in Hancock County as drivers try to get to Slidell, New Orleans, Covington and beyond.

It took a Sun Herald journalist 45 minutes to get from Waveland to Pearlington on Wednesday, July 5. The next day, drivers reported spending two hours in the car to get from Biloxi to Slidell, which is normally about a 45-minute trip.

As each day passes, the Mississippi Department of Transportation traffic alerts get more frequent: Congestion backs up I-10 for hours into Mississippi. Be prepared to stop.

Many on the Coast commute to Louisiana for work every day. And unless you want to take an additional detour through Picayune, most have to wait in gridlocked traffic because the “back way” through Pearlington is closed indefinitely.

For years, drivers would detour from Mississippi 604 to Highway 90 to get into Louisiana when there were issues on the interstate. The scenic route took only a few extra minutes and drivers could reach Slidell and New Orleans from the backroads.

But that won’t be possible again until about 2028 when Louisiana is set to finish repairs on the Highway 90 bridge that is vital to crossing the state line.

That’s five years away. Five. Years.

Mississippi Coast drivers can’t wait that long for an alternate route. Louisiana — and Mississippi — should put their heads together for a solution at the West Pearl River Bridge, and do it now. Waiting a half decade for repairs is five years too long.

The opinions expressed above comes from the Sun Herald Editorial Board, which includes Executive Editor Blake Kaplan, Senior Editor Justin Mitchell and Audience Development Producer Emily Broyles.