Motorists in the City of Petal will temporarily need to take detours around the South George Street bridge that crosses over Matthews Branch, as officials recently announced the bridge will be shut down for replacement for an undetermined period of time.
On May 26, Mayor Tony Ducker said a recent inspection discovered excessive deterioration on the bridge, necessitating the closure of South George Street between West 9th and West 10th avenues.
“A few years back, it actually got downgraded,” Ducker said. “The tonnage got decreased on it to five tons, which isn’t bad, but it does mean (for example) that school buses have had to reroute for the last several years.
“The state typically checks bridges roughly every other year, so this one has just had some degradation since the last inspection, unfortunately. You kind of know something like this is out there; you’re just not sure when it’s going to happen.”
As of now, there is no timeline for when the bridge replacement will be completed. However, the cost for the work may run more than half a million dollars.
“Preliminary estimates are that it’s going to be over $600,000 to replace it; now that’s the bad news,” Ducker said. “The good news is that once you get it fixed, now you’ve got something that will last on into the future.
“We’ll probably go back with a box culvert as opposed to a bridge, in this case as well.”
City officials hope to get funds from the Mississippi Department of Transportation’s Emergency Road and Bridge Repair Fund, which was established in 2018 to revitalize public roads and bridges across the state. In addition to establishing the ERBRF, the Mississippi Legislature also provided the necessary authority to initially fund the program up to $250 million.
The city turned in applications to that fund in 2018 and 2021, but was turned down both times.
“So hopefully, this will signify us kind of getting bumped up in order, so we can actually receive some outside funds for some help on this,” Ducker said.
In the meantime, detour signs are being posted around the site to divert motorists to the correct paths. As far as a timeline for the work, Ducker is comparing this project to the repairs on Sherry Lynn Drive, which was severely damaged in the recent flooding that affected the area.
“It could be a lengthy closure,” Ducker said. “Just kind of estimating how long it’s taking us with Sherry Lynn, which was a much less expensive fix – that happened last September, so we’re getting into the nine-month area – this will be a much bigger job than that.
“The main concern, always, is that we have a safe road.
“I know it’s an inconvenience, but we want it to be a safe road for the people in this area to travel on. And then obviously, for school buses with the kids on them, to get over that.”
