Mississippi Highway 609 (MS 609) is a north-south state highway in Jackson County in the

Mississippi Gulf Coast The Mississippi Gulf Coast, also known as Mississippi Coast, Mississippi Gulf Coast region, Coastal Mississippi, and The Coast, is the area of Mississippi along the Mississippi Sound at the northern extreme of the Gulf of Mexico. Geography At th ...

region of

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

, consisting of two sections. The first is signed along Washington Avenue between

US Highway 90 U.S. Route 90 or U.S. Highway 90 (US 90) is an east–west major United States highway in the Southern United States. Despite the "0" in its route number, US 90 never was a full coast-to-coast route. With the exception of a short-lived ...

(US 90) and Interstate 10 (I-10), and the second is unsigned and continues north from Latimer at Old Biloxi Road to Vestry Road in

Vestry A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government for a parish in England, Wales and some English colonies which originally met in the vestry or sacristy of the parish church, and consequently became known colloquiall ...

Route description

The signed section of MS 609 begins in

Ocean Springs Ocean Springs is a city in Jackson County, Mississippi, United States, approximately east of Biloxi and west of Gautier. It is part of the Pascagoula, Mississippi Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 17,225 at the 2000 U.S. Census ...

at an intersection with

US 90 U.S. Route 90 or U.S. Highway 90 (US 90) is an east–west major United States highway in the Southern United States. Despite the "0" in its route number, US 90 never was a full coast-to-coast route. With the exception of a short-live ...

, with the road continuing south into downtown. MS 609 heads north along Washington Avenue as a four-lane undivided highway through a neighborhood before crossing the Fort Bayou Drawbridge over Old Fort Bayou into the neighboring community of Gulf Hills. The highway passes by a golf course and through a mix of a business district and neighborhoods for several blocks before crossing Lemoyne Boulevard where it begins to straddle the border of St. Martin and Gulf Hills. It now passes a major business district before meeting I-10 at an interchange (exit 50). State maintenance continues a short distance further along Tucker Road until ending at the next intersection with Cook Road and Seaman Road on the border of Latimer. Tucker Road, which later becomes Old Biloxi Road, continues through Latimer as a local road. After crossing Bayou Costapia, the MS 609 officially resumes, but the highway is not signed as such and is not maintained by the state. The highway leaves Latimer to a less populated area for the next several miles as it travels through the remote wooded terrain of the

De Soto National Forest De Soto National Forest, named for 16th-century Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto, is of pine forests in southern Mississippi. It is one of the most important protected areas for the biological diversity of the Gulf Coast ecoregion of North Ame ...

, with very few homes and businesses in the vicinity of the highway. Within the forest, the highway passes through Larue. MS 609 finally leaves the forest and enters the small community of

, where it comes to an end at an intersection with Vestry Road, roughly east of the Red Creek Off-Road ATV park and campground, as well as west of MS 57. The northern segment does not intersect any other state highways.

Major intersections

References

External links

{{Attached KML 609 Transportation in Jackson County, Mississippi