HARRISON COUNTY, Miss. (WLOX) – You may have seen crews in Long Beach along the gulf over the last few months.
Outfall, or drainage pipes, are being worked on at three work sites, two in Long Beach and one in Gulfport.
These drainage upgrades are improvements that Harrison County Sand Beach Director Trey McKnight said were long overdue.
“A lot of this stuff is 50-75 years old. Some of it was replaced in the 1980s, I believe,” said McKnight. “It’s always nice to go back in and replace these runs of pipe to help deal with the drainage issues inland along Highway 90, and property homes along the Gulf Coast.”
After these pipes are completed, crews will work to re-nourish the beach. This is a process of hydraulic dredging to bring more sand to shore. Eight different sections of beach from Henderson Point to Biloxi will be replenished.
“You can’t physically get to them because the beaches have eroded away to a point where the pipe is in the water,” said McKnight. “We are looking to get the re-nourishment project on the way so we can get beaches back out to that template and allow our contractors to make the repairs as needed.”
Re-nourishment will open the door for Harrison County to consolidate outfalls, leading to fewer pipes along the water.
McKnight said it will make the system more efficient and be less of an eyesore for beachgoers.
“We all know the beaches are intertwined with tourism. I think when you look at it from a broader scale, any project where you can make improvements like this, it is going to be beneficial for everyone,” said McKnight.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is the agency over the dredging project. USACE is looking to establish a federal contract for the work and begin replenishing in January.
See a spelling or grammar error in this story? Report it to our team HERE.
Copyright 2025 WLOX. All rights reserved.