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Federal group investigating Gulfport’s I-10 extension project in historic Black community

Federal civil rights officials visited the Mississippi Coast to meet residents in Black neighborhoods in Gulfport to investigate a controversial Interstate 10 extension project.

Officials from the Federal Highway Administration’s civil rights office went on a two-day tour in several areas of the city and had one-on-one conversations with about 30 residents at the Isiah Fredericks Community Center in North Gulfport.

They expressed concern that the construction of the Interstate 10 connector road through wetlands west of U.S. 49 would be catastrophic during storms and hurricanes and will cause their communities to flood even more than they already do.

Katherine Egland, co-founder of the environmental advocacy group EEECHO, said members drove around Gulfport with the investigators in a bus, touring affected areas including the Bernard Bayou, Turkey Creek, Rippey Road, Hewes Avenue, the beach and Cowan Road.

The proposed road construction project is supported by a $20.5 million grant from the Mississippi Department of Transportation, which oversees the Federal Highway Administration and the civil rights office that visited Gulfport from May 18-19.

The investigators’ visit followed a civil rights complaint filed to the United States Department of Transportation by a group of local advocacy groups called the Coalition to Preserve and Protect Forest Heights.

The complaint alleged that the proposed project violates Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits racial discrimination in federally funded programs, by not considering its the ecological impact on the historically Black neighborhoods of Forest Heights and North Gulfport.

The investigators also visited an alternate road site proposed by community members, which activists have criticized the Gulfport city government for not taking into consideration when deciding on where to construct the new road.

“It’s discriminatory by the city that they would not even have considered this alternative,” said community activist and sixth-generation Turkey Creek resident Derrick Evans.

Derrick Evans, a sixth-generation member of the Turkey Creek community, talks about restoration of the old building where he sits on the back porch, the former paymaster’s office that survived a deadly explosion in 1943 at the Phoenix Naval Stores plant. Evans and others are working to preserve the community founded in 1866 by freed slaves and threatened today by Coastal sprawl.

Interstate 10 access plan

The city’s plan is to extend Airport Road west of Highway 49 to serve as an alternative access route to I-10.

All parties agree on the need for a new road to ease congestion in Gulfport and provide an alternative route for traffic to reach I-10. But activists have accused the city of using the road project as a way to facilitate development on the currently inaccessible wetlands west of Highway 49.

On Thursday morning, the investigators visited Forrest Heights Missionary Baptist Church and spoke to deacon Kenneth Taylor, who showed them photos of the church filled with storm water in April 2021.

Taylor told the Sun Herald that flooding at the church worsened after the construction of a shopping mall north of Turkey Creek. He and other community members worry that increased development will only exacerbate the issue.

Flood waters surround Forest Heights Baptist Church in Gulfport after nearby Turkey Creek flooded after Hurricane Ida on Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2021. The city is considering building a new road and a levy in the neighborhood, which residents worry could have an outsized impact on the wetlands in the area and worsen flooding that occurs regularly.
Flood waters surround Forest Heights Baptist Church in Gulfport after nearby Turkey Creek flooded after Hurricane Ida on Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2021. The city is considering building a new road and a levy in the neighborhood, which residents worry could have an outsized impact on the wetlands in the area and worsen flooding that occurs regularly.

Taylor, who grew up in Forest Heights and remembers hunting rabbits and squirrels in the nearby woods as a boy, said he thinks the real purpose of the road is to help the city develop on the wetlands, “because there’s no other way they can get to all of this land over here.”

Jase Payne, communications and marketing manager for the city of Gulfport, said the city has been working with the U.S. DOT, MDOT and federal officials to ensure voices in the Turkey Creek and Forest Heights area are heard.

“Concerns of our citizens are treated with utmost seriousness, and we will continue to support the process as federal officials complete their vetting of these concerns,” Payne said in an email to the Sun Herald.

The intersection of Poole Street and Arkansas Avenue on Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2021. If the city’s plan to build a road into the wooded parcel of land proceeds, Poole Street will extend into the forest across the street.
The intersection of Poole Street and Arkansas Avenue on Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2021. If the city’s plan to build a road into the wooded parcel of land proceeds, Poole Street will extend into the forest across the street.