Floating docks help Vancleave family bridge construction gap

VANCLEAVE, Miss. (WLOX) - A Jackson County road closure has led to one family getting creative with a way to bridge the gap.

The Knight family decided to take matters into their own hands when the Wade-Vancleave Road bridge over Parkers Lake closed for repairs in March 2022. If they drove, it would take an hour to get to and from Hurley, and they’d have to go down Interstate 10. Instead, Brian and Rebekah Knight came up with an ingenious solution.

“We went through a whole bunch of options, driving around, moving. My kids even said we should make a zip line across it. So we went with a raft. It’s much easier,” said Brian Knight, who coaches baseball at East Central High School in Hurley.

That means Brian, Rebekah, McCullough, the twins Madison and McKenzie, and Molly hop on the raft. They get their provisions and pull themselves across the lake.

“We looked at paddle boats, but they wouldn’t hold them, and they’re easy to steal, and he didn’t want them to sit down so, I said ‘let’s build a dock.’ They stand up the whole way across,” said Rebekah Knight.

They cross the lake before crews show up to work on the bridge. By 7:05 a.m. every morning, the Knights are on their way to school and work. They do the Swiss Family Robinson routine seven days a week for school, work and church.

“We have life jackets in the middle of the raft that’s screwed to the deck so it’s safe. Nobody’s fallen in yet,” Rebekah added.

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