Local News
Related Photos
-
Jeremy Pittari
Tools
Bridges are being widened on I-59
PICAYUNE — Six bridge locations along Interstate 59 in Pearl River County are being widened.
Those six locations will involve the widening of 12 bridges. Workers are currently working on the bridge that goes across the Hobolochitto Creek between the Picayune exits. Additional work will move north before coming back south along the interstate, Mississippi Department of Transportation District Engineer Red Stringfellow said,
The work began in September and is expected to be complete by the fall of 2010. Funding for the work is part of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act.
The $9.9 million project will add 6-foot shoulders to bridges on the left hand side, the side closest to the median, and 12-oot shoulders to the right side of the bridges.
Two bridges on the interstate inside the county will not be part of the work. The reason is because the project is a design-build project so the project must total less than $10 million, Stringfellow said. T.L. Wallace was the winning bidder for the project but bid to widen only 12 of the county’s 14 bridges along the interstate within that budget.
Stringfellow said MDOT is looking into getting more funding to do the work to the remaining to bridges, which are located at Red Creek near mile marker 40.
When completed, the work will provide two benefits. Stringfellow said motorists will be safer as they travel along the wider bridges. Also during times of contraflow emergency vehicles will be able to use the shoulders to get to emergencies. Currently there is no room to pass contraflow traffic congestion on the bridges.
A similar project is underway in Lauderdale County. Meridian is the county seat.
Everyday traffic will be affected with lane closures while the work is taking place, but at least one lane will always be open. Stringfellow said that during hurricane season work will cease when a storm is in the Gulf of Mexico.
- Local News
-
-
Feeding time!
Kenny Russell tosses a bale of hay into a feeder for his cows on his farm in Poplarville.
-
Sheriff's Depart. handles cases
Two drug cases and a report of some vandalism at Nicholson Elementary kept Pearl River County Sheriff’s Department investigators and deputies busy.
-
Check batteries in smoke detectors
This weekend when clocks are adjusted to compensate for daylight savings time smoke detectors should also get some attention.
-
Census 1st step in redistricting
If you live in coastal Mississippi, do you want your vote to carry the same weight as the vote of someone living in the Appalachian foothills near Corinth?
-
Local tax preparer charged with fraud
According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Mississippi, a Carriere tax preparer has been charged with fraudulently filing a federal tax return.
-
PRCC’s Career Fair attended by about 1,000 looking for jobs
About 900 to 1,000 students took advantage of Pearl River Community College’s 12th annual “career fair” on Wednesday in the Technology Center to make contact with businesses looking for prospective employees who are near graduation from one of the 24 technical career courses offered at the college.
-
Great American Clean-up this Saturday
Ready to clean up the city? If that’s the case, The Great American Cleanup will give Picayune residents their chance.
-
Arboretum to feature walking encyclopedia
Crosby Arboretum hosts Alan Branhagen, who will be taking visitors on a field walk on Saturday.
The event will give anyone who has questions about plant life, wildlife, or nature a chance to gather information, said Senior Curator Patricia Drackett. -
Senate OKs bill to let inmates work for release
The Mississippi Senate has approved a bill to let some indigent county inmates work to pay off their fees and restitution.
-
Gov. gets involuntary mental commitment bill
The Senate has sent to the governor a bill that aims to simplify the process of having people involuntarily committed for evaluation or treatment of mental illness.
- More Local News Headlines
-
