After rainy conditions recently put a hamper on the re-opening of the East Hardy Street bridge that connects Petal and Hattiesburg over the Leaf River, officials are now looking forward to the completion of that project early next week.
Terri Bell, who serves as president of the Forrest County Board of Supervisors, said the bridge was expected to re-open in mid-April, but inclement weather caused the work to be pushed back a bit. Despite that setback, workers have recently been able to make progress on several measures, including but not limited to:
- Grading the roadway to prepare for asphalt;
- Forming and pouring sections of sidewalk on the Hattiesburg side of the bridge;
- Forming and pouring tops and gutters of curb inlets on the Petal side of the bridge;
- Removing the bridge deck overhang forms;
- Forming and pouring curb and gutter tie-in on the Petal side of the bridge;
- Installing limestone base and grading the roadway on the Petal side of the bridge; and
- Installing topsoil and preparing for landscaping of the curb islands on the Hattiesburg side of the bridge.
The bridge has been closed to traffic since January 22, when it was shut down to allow drainage work and other measures.
“We’re almost there,” Bell said. “We’re really excited that we’re going to be able to open the bridge to traffic, so people that normally commute that way can continue that path.
“We’re excited to get it back open for everyone.”
However, some upcoming drainage work just south of Carterville Road in Petal will necessitate a closure of a small portion of South Main Street once work on the bridge is complete. That closure, which will take place along South Main from the red light at Carterville Road to Dawson Cutoff, is expected to last approximately a month.
Bell said that work could be completed while the bridge project progresses, but that measure would have made it more difficult for the businesses in that area, including the MJ Discount convenience store and Cochran’s Muffler and Auto Shop.
“We wanted to keep these businesses as accessible to traffic as we could,” Bell said. “We feel like this way, people can get to them, because we’ve poured driveways to them, so people can get to them while we’re in this last phase of the drainage on the Petal side.”
Officials are currently working to complete a new bridge adjacent to the current bridge, which will replace the structure that has connected Hattiesburg and Petal for more than 70 years.
Officials had originally considered demolishing the current bridge, but after learning that endeavor would cost approximately $1 million, the decision was made to leave the structure and transform it into a pedestrian bridge. The funds for that project will come from the Leaf and Bouie Redevelopment District, which was recently established to take the taxes from each side of the Leaf and Bouie rivers and reinvest them back into those areas of Hattiesburg, Petal and Forrest County.
“We have that district set up down there, and that’s bringing in some revenue for the second or third year,” said David Hogan, former president of the Forrest County Board of Supervisors, in a previous story. “So we’ll have some money built up to do some stuff to the old bridge once it’s not in use anymore.
“It’s going to be a destination point. There will be a walking path and some lighting, and we’ll probably paint it during events.”
With the help of matching grants from the United States Department of Transportation, officials from Petal, Forrest County and Hattiesburg are working to put forward matching grants to make a walking path possible on the bridge. The funds would come from the department of transportation’s Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity discretionary grant program for 2024, which is designed to help communities around the country carry out projects with significant local or regional impact.
“I’m extremely excited about taking this step forward for the city to partner with Forrest County and the City of Petal to make the old East Hardy bridge an asset to our entire community,” Hattiesburg City Council president Jeffrey George said in a previous story. “I think the potential addition of this pedestrian path will help us continue to expand outdoor recreation opportunities and will further our mission to realize the Leaf River as an asset to our city.”
