A small section of road on County Road 130 just north of County Road 320 will be closed later this year.
“We’re replacing the bridge. We’re taking out the old bridge and putting in a new one that’s a little longer. It’s being done with State Aid money, which comes from the Office of State Aid Road Construction in Jackson, Mississippi,” stated Assistant County Engineer John Lewis. “We have more projects programmed, but this is the first one we could get completed. This one doesn’t require additional right of way, and that helps. If I don’t have to buy land from someone or get it donated, it speeds things up.”
After accepting bids, Ellis Dozer Service, LLC was contracted to do the job with a bid of $451,415.50. To cover the cost of the contractor and the engineering services, $528,200 is being transferred from State Aid funds. This means that the county will pay nothing from the county budget.
While the bridge is not a threat to anyone driving over it right now, it must be replaced in order to be in compliance with state weight regulations.
“The reason we have to replace the bridge is because the rating doesn’t match the road. It is supposed to have a higher rating than it does for school buses and up. It’s fine for residential traffic, but for a State Aid road, it doesn’t meet weight requirements,” explained District 3 Supervisor Joel Speed. “The main thing we need to do is ask the public to be patient because this is something that has to be done. Sometimes there is pain involved in advancing, and that is what we’re doing. We’re advancing the bridge, and it will be bigger and stronger.”
The project is set to start around December, and that section of road will be closed to the public for about four months. Please be patient and be prepared to take a slight detour for the time period that the bridge is being replaced.
