Editor’s note: This is the first in a four-part series looking ahead to 12 of the biggest stories of 2025 across South Mississippi.
A billboard at Exit 24 of I-80 proclaims Buc-ee’s travel center is coming soon, and the opening will be one of the biggest stories across South Mississippi in 2025.
A spokesperson tells the Sun Herald the company currently is planing for a spring 2025 opening.
The site literally is buzzing with the sound of equipment and the many workers building the $50 million travel center. It will be one of the largest the company operates, owner Arch “Beaver” Aplin said at the September 2023 groundbreaking.
Buc-ee’s founder and owner Arch “Beaver” Aplin poses for a photo at the site of the future Harrison County Buc-ee’s after a groundbreaking for the travel station on Sept. 12, 2023. The 2025 opening of the store is among the biggest development news in South Mississippi.
The 74,000-square-foot building will have 120 fueling pumps and 24 EV charging stations and employ about 200 people full time.
Buc-ee’s centers are known for fresh brisket sandwiches, Beaver Nuggets and dozens of other snacks, aisles of gifts and souvenirs that will say “Buc-ee’s Harrison County.” The centers also are favored for their ultra clean restrooms.
So many people are expected to get off I-10 to come to Buc-ee’s that Harrison County invested $15 million toward replacing the bridge and rebuilding the intersection at the Menge Avenue exit to accommodate the crowds.
The Menge Avenue overpass over Interstate 10 in Pass Christian is under construction on Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024.
I-10 Construction
The problems have felt endless for some exasperated drivers: Construction. Rain. Sudden, large potholes.
Drivers in both directions of Interstate 10 in Hancock and Harrison counties slogged through delay after delay in 2024, and traffic could continue. The Mississippi Department of Transportation is working on two construction projects in the area, and one will not be done for at least two years.
That project, which is estimated to end in 2027, will add a lane in each direction between Diamondhead and County Farm Road. Crews will keep closing lanes at night to work on construction in the new year, said Anna Ehrgott, a public information officer for MDOT. Eastbound traffic will also soon shift toward the outer lanes.
Ehrgott said in December that MDOT was still working to find a permanent fix to one problem prompted by the widening work: large potholes. When construction shifts traffic to the shoulder, large trucks exert too much pressure on a drain beneath the road. That has created cracks that become large holes. Ehrgott has said the holes can be up to 10 inches deep and more than 10 feet long.
The large potholes have formed between County Farm Road and Diamondhead. And in Diamondhead, MDOT is also widening the interstate overpass and adding roundabouts. The project is closing each ramp to make them bigger, and MDOT estimates the work will finish in 2026.
Crews have already widened two of the four ramps. The I-10 west exit ramp will stay closed in January. After that ramp reopens, the east entrance ramp will close later in 2025.
Mississippi state Sen. Mike Thompson, left, and Pass Christian Jimmy Rafferty participate in a meeting at the Pass Christian Yacht Club about Mississippi River flooding. Lieutenant governors from Mississippi and Louisiana, along with other public officials from Mississippi, attended the meeting.
MS Coast waterways
Climate change is jeopardizing the health of the Mississippi Sound, with extreme periods of drought and flood disturbing the salinity balance that oysters, dolphins and other aquatic life need to thrive.
Mississippi River water the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers releases through the aging Bonnet Carré Spillway on Lake Pontchartrain also pollutes waterways in Mississippi and Louisiana. The polluted water can deprive aquatic life of oxygen and create toxic algae blooms.
The most pressing issue in the coming year will continue to be the corps’ approach to flood control, which was set in federal law that is almost 100 years old.
Pass Christian Mayor Jimmy Rafferty recently hosted a work session that included the lieutenant governors of both Mississippi and Louisiana, along with state and local officials from Mississippi. They plan to work together on input for an Army Corps study of lower Mississippi River management.
They also are talking with members of Congress about future flood control.
Fishing and tourism in both states also suffer during prolonged river flooding.
The Mississippi Sound Coalition of cities and groups made some progress with a lawsuit against the Corps, receiving acknowledgment that the environment suffers under current Corps management practices and needs to be addressed.
Periods of drought also impair the waterways because salinity levels get too high.
Stories of 2025
Today: Buc-ee’s, potholes and our waterways
Today: Amtrak, NIL and Katrina
Monday: Casinos, the seawall and Benjamin Taylor
Tuesday: Our changing downtowns, elections and an execution
