NATCHEZ — Don’t expect to head south on the interstate anytime today.

Starting at 4 a.m. this morning, the Mississippi Department of Transportation is instituting its contraflow evacuation plan. The plan calls for all lanes to head northbound, to aid those fleeing the coast.

Contraflow operations will begin in Louisiana and extend into Mississippi for 21 miles on I-59 and 31 miles on I-55.

Traffic traveling on Interstate 55 will end just south of Brookhaven at U.S. 84. On Interstate 59, the system will end just south of Poplarville.

Interstate 10 will not be effected by contraflow.

Louisiana will determine when contraflow is terminated based upon traffic volume.

For the first time ever, the entire coastal population of Louisiana is being evacuated.

The MDOT call center has been activated to distribute traffic information. It can be reached at 1-866-521-6368. They also have a hurricane evacuation map available at www.gomdot.com.