Yazoo County reopened three of the nine bridges last week that were recently closed by the state, but County Road Manager Jim Warrington doesn’t expect Anding-Oil City Road’s bridge to stay open for long.
Bridges on Johnston Road, Anding-Oil City Road and Woodard Road were opened to traffic last week.
Warrington said the work done on Anding-Oil City Road’s bridge is patchwork on a bridge that needs replacing. He said he doesn’t expect the state to allow the bridge to remain open long.
“The state will close it down again,” he said. “All we can do is patch that bridge. We don’t have the equipment to replace it. Our crane isn’t big enough.”
Warrington estimated it would cost $2 million to replace the bridge.
District 1 Supervisor Van Foster said he is frustrated with the lack of progress in replacing the bridge, even though it has been deficient for years.
Difficulty locating heirs of surrounding property to obtain necessary right-of-way has been one obstacle.
Foster said that another problem is that the bridge crosses a railroad line, and Canadian National Railroad is not easy to work with.
“We’re restricted by what Canadian National says we have to do,” Foster said.
“There’s a lot of things complicating replacing that bridge,” Warrington said. “The railroad has to be involved in it, and they’re going to have federal police out there every day while we work. If they’re not out there while you’re working, it’s a $10,000 per person fine. This bridge isn’t something you just go out there and build.”
“What are they going to do if that bridge falls on one of their trains,” Board President Cobie Collins asked.
Foster said the county should consider abandoning the bridge and detouring the road to a location where the county can build a new bridge.
“That may be only thing we can do,” Collins said.
Johnston Road
Johnston Road’s bridge is also only temporarily fixed.
“That bridge needs to be on the list of bridges to be replaced.”
Woodard Road
The county was able to quickly replace the bridge on Woodard Road in Holly Bluff.
“That bridge has brand new pilings and a brand new slab,” Warrington said. “We tore out the wood pilings and put metal pilings in.”
Powell Road
Warrington said the bridge on Powell Road is beyond repair.
“We’re not going to be able to fix that bridge,” Warrington said. “There’s nothing we can do to it.”
Hilderbrand Road
Warrington said the county may be able to patch the bridge on Hilderbrand Road to get it open for awhile, but the bridge needs to be replaced.
Scotland Road
In addition to Anding-Oil City the most heavily-traveled bridge that is out in Yazoo County is on Scotland Road.
Warrington said the county is replacing that bridge entirely, and the new bridge should last for a long time.
“That will be a brand new bridge, and we won’t have to worry about it,” Warrington said.
Remaining Bridges
Other bridges that were shut down that will still need to be addressed include bridges on Link Road in District 1, and Hicks Road and Cox Road in District 2.
