Bridge replacement funding to reduce this year

Poplarville--Pearl River County Engineer Les Dungan provided an update on bridges and the outlook for funding during the Board of Supervisors Wednesday meeting.

Dungan said the bridge crisis came about after a change in the way timber bridge components (mainly pilings) are condition rated which resulted in a large number of closures in Mississippi. Dungan said statewide there are 423 county bridges listed as closed and 1,853 more bridges posted for low weight.

Dungan said Pearl River County maintains 141 bridges and at the time of the change in how timber components were rated, they was 38 bridges with significant timber components providing support to the bridges.

Dungan said that 14 bridges have been replaced since January 2017 at a cost of $4,175,000 from SAP, LSBP, Federal, and County funds. There are 7 bridges currently under construction and estimated cost for those projects is $2,821,000 and another 3 bridges with funding in place and scheduled for replacement at a cost of $1,411,375 with the money coming from EFL and ERBR.

Dungan said there are 13 bridges in need of repair or replacement with an estimated cost of $4.5 million.

Dungan said he expects funding from the LSBP program to be 50 percent less than last year at an amount of approximately $800,000. With that funding, Dungan received approval from the Supervisors to begin programming on two bridge replacement projects: County Farm Road and Hickory Grove Road.

Below is a list provided by Dungan to the Board of Supervisors: