The Seawall Boardwalk Behind Dan B's Is the First Piece of a Longer Line

The line items in the bid tabulation describe the project plainly. It calls for 630 linear feet of timber framing for a boardwalk 16 feet wide, the same length of decking on top, one single access ramp and four double access ramps, a 75-foot ADA timber pedestrian ramp extension, lighting, six trash receptacles, ten benches and four picnic tables. That list is the base-bid scope the city put out for the downtown boardwalk on top of the Bay St. Louis seawall along Beach Boulevard.

The City Council's October 6, 2026 agenda included a certificate of substantial completion from David Rush Construction for the section between DeMontluzin Avenue and the end of the boardwalk behind Dan B's. The same records show that this stretch is only the first part of a plan. Bidders priced a longer boardwalk last fall, and the city's contract covers the base portion. Three separate items are now moving toward a finish point at Ulman Avenue.

What the first stretch actually contains

Bids for the Bay St. Louis Downtown ADA Boardwalk were opened on Tuesday, November 18, 2025, in the City Hall conference room. Six contractors submitted prices. David Rush Construction's base bid of $778,793.00 was the lowest. The other base bids ranged from $819,425.00 up to $1,140,528.00.

Several smaller items in the base scope show what changes on the walk itself. The contractor would remove railing at the access ramps, take out timber balusters on existing ramps, and remove and replace 125 feet of the safety wire along the top of the seawall. The bid also included removing railing at an existing ramp in the harbor, so the new deck connects to the Municipal Harbor as well as running beside it. In its own scope description, the state grant that funds the next phase says the purpose is an ADA-compliant walkway over the seawall that ties into the existing sidewalk and connects "the municipal harbor, beach access, and downtown businesses."

Construction moved quickly through late summer. In his September 1, 2026 report, the city engineer said the Downtown ADA Board Walk, funded through "GCRF and Tidelands," was about 64 percent complete "and on schedule to complete on time." Three weeks later, Pay Application 4 put the project at 83 percent complete by value as of September 22, 2026. That came to $647,834.20 of work on a contract that still stood at its original $778,793.00. The substantial-completion certificate on the October 6 agenda is filed under a document name dated "9.22.26."

The part that was priced and then set aside

The engineer's recommendation letter to Mayor Favre did not stop at the base bid. It recommended "awarding the Base bid and Alternate 1 and 2," for a total of $1,251,490.50. The pay application shows a different number. It lists the original contract sum as $778,793.00, the base bid alone, with no modifications. The alternates total $472,697.50, which is roughly 38 percent of the price the engineer recommended. Here is what they would have added:

Alternate 2 would have been the boardwalk's direct connection to the sand. Its main line item, the ADA beach access ramp, came in at $235,714.30 on David Rush's bid. That figure is more than the contractor priced for all 100 feet of extra 16-foot boardwalk in Alternate 1. Getting a wheelchair or stroller down to the sand is a bigger construction job than adding more deck along the top of the seawall.

Three items now moving toward Ulman Avenue

The plan has always gone further than the section behind Dan B's. The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality's RESTORE Act scope describes a 16-foot-wide boardwalk running "from the Demontluzin Avenue pedestrian access ramp to the Ulman Avenue access ramp." It estimates about 850 linear feet. Set beside that estimate, the base bid's 630 feet is a little under three-quarters of the full line.

In fall 2026, council agendas have carried several items aimed at the remaining distance:

1. A change order. The October 6 agenda proposed Change Order 1 from David Rush Construction for $771,182.80 "for work on the Ulman Avenue Downtown ADA Boardwalk Project."
2. A lease for the waterfront itself. The same agenda proposed a "rent exempt public trust tidelands lease for the Ulman Avenue ADA Boardwalk Project." The September engineer's report said the Ulman Avenue beach access plans were about 95 percent complete and had approvals from the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources and the Army Corps of Engineers. The tidelands lease was the remaining step.
3. A new engineering search. The October 20 agenda proposed going out for RFQs for engineering services "for the construction of an ADA compliant boardwalk that will run from the Demontluzin Avenue pedestrian ramp to the Ulman Avenue access ramp."

The money behind that RFQ is spelled out in the MDEQ RESTORE scope. It provides a $1,000,000 subaward to the city for planning and construction, and MDEQ is requesting $97,795 for its own oversight. The grant's performance period runs from June 1, 2026, to May 31, 2028. Its milestone for completing construction is 21 months after the start, which works out to around March 2028. The allocation goes back to 2024, when WLOX reported RESTORE money set aside for an ADA boardwalk linking the harbor, beach access and downtown businesses.

These items are agenda proposals. The city's records don't yet show how each one fits with the others or with the alternates that were set aside. Under the grant schedule, construction of the full DeMontluzin-to-Ulman line is due around March 2028.

The two ends of the line, and what sits between

At the south end of the substantially complete section, Dan B. Murphy's Restaurant & Bar is at 109 S. Beach Blvd. Just past it, the city's Beach Boulevard public lot at 110 S. Beach Blvd. has 26 spaces, two of them handicap spaces. For a project built around ADA access, those two spaces help determine who can actually get onto the deck.

The middle of the route is where Main Street meets Beach Boulevard. The city describes the Municipal Harbor as sitting just below the seawall at that intersection. Its amenities include the Rutherford Fishing Pier, which forms the harbor basin's north wall, a 155-by-60-foot events deck, and restrooms at the main office and at the south end. The harbor also has work of its own coming. The October 6 agenda proposed awarding the Hurricane Zeta General Repairs FEMA project to Gill's Crane and Dozer Service for $4,349,034.65.

North along Beach Boulevard are The Blind Tiger at 119 North Beach Boulevard and 200 North Beach Restaurant & Bar at 200 North Beach Boulevard. Bay Town Inn is at 208 North Beach Blvd.

The planned northern end at Ulman Avenue already has a landmark. According to the Hancock County Historical Society, the Naval Battle of Bay St. Louis marker stands "on the corner of Ulman Avenue and Beach Boulevard." It records that on December 14, 1814, five U.S. gunboats fired on a British fleet entering Lake Borgne, the last naval defense before Andrew Jackson's victory at New Orleans. Once the full line is built, the boardwalk would end at that marker.

Where the next decisions show up

The agendas also include smaller waterfront items. The same October 6 agenda asked the council to let the Department of Marine Resources set up a check station at the Washington Street Pier for oyster season, which runs from October 1, 2026, to April 30, 2027. The city lists the Washington Street Launch & Pier as having a boat launch, trailer parking, bathrooms and a fishing pier.

The rest of the boardwalk will move through the City Council's meeting agendas and the engineer's monthly reports. The items that will mark progress are an engineering firm chosen for the RESTORE-funded line, action on the Ulman Avenue change order and tidelands lease, and any return of the beach access ramp that was priced at $235,714.30 in November 2025 and left out of the base contract.

The seawall boardwalk is a short walk from Court Street. If you'd like to know how a home base in Old Town fits the harbor, the waterfront and the boardwalk's next phase, the principals at 124 Court Development can walk the route with you and show you the building at the top of it. Schedule a Consultation.