Over the past couple of weeks, workers have made significant progress toward the re-opening of the current East Hardy Street bridge that connects Petal to Hattiesburg over the Leaf River.
Members of the Forrest County Board of Supervisors recently posted an updated list of work on the bridge, which closed January 22 for drainage improvements and other measures. Board president Terri Bell said the bridge is expected to be back open for motorists in mid-April.
“We are making a lot of progress, and we still feel like we are on track to finish real soon, so we’re really looking forward to it, to get this behind us,” she said.
According to the list, workers have so far:
- Formed and poured sections of barrier rail and sidewalk;
- Poured the exterior curb on the roadway from the adjacent wrecker yard to Lagoon Road on both sides of the bridge;
- Begun forming and pouring the tops and gutters of the curb inlets where the curbs have been poured;
- Begun filling and grading slopes and preparing for grassing at the nearby cemetery;
- Worked on the installation of a finger joint;
- Started the grading for the upcoming sidewalk on the Hattiesburg side of the bridge; and
- Started backfilling of the curb on the south side of the roadway.
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.
“Those (businesses) would have to have traffic come down Carterville (Road), turn on Dawson Cutoff, and it would make it not as successful for their businesses,” she said. “So what’s going to occur is that once we open the bridge, and we have traffic coming through that area, we will have a little detour that’s going to take you down Dawson Cutoff up to Carterville (Road).
“(That way), those businesses will be accessible and people will be able to get to them before we shut off the area just south of the red light. We just want them as busy as we possibly can with all this construction that’s going on.”
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.”
