City officials have closed the pedestrian bridge over the Tombigbee River at the Columbus Riverwalk until further notice.
City Engineer Kevin Stafford told The Dispatch Friday that it appears one of the concrete pillars on which the bridge sits is shifting and pulling away from the bridge, and that there may be only a few inches of contact left between the two structures. The metal supports that attach the bridge to the pillar have partially broken, according to a press release issued by the city later that day.
“If that pier continues to move any more … it’s going to disconnect,” Stafford said.
He said structural engineers at his firm Neel-Schaffer recommended closing the bridge as a precaution. When it was first built in the 1920s, it was designed to move out of the way of passing barges and other large watercraft, meaning it should hold its own weight without being reliant on the pillars.
“But one, we don’t know if that was ever tested when it was built in the ’20s; and two, we’re not ready to test it today,” Stafford said.
The pillar’s shifting was likely caused by erosion at the base and the pressure of water on the pillar, particularly in weeks of heavy rain, Stafford said.
“There’s probably some scour that’s gone on underneath the water over the years underneath that pier, and it’s now starting to lose its footing and rotate some because of the force of the water on it, which is then causing it to … start to lose contact with the metal part (of the bridge) that’s sitting on it,” he said.
The bridge was built in 1927 and closed in 1991, according to previous reporting by The Dispatch. The city, Lowndes County, Columbus-Lowndes Convention and Visitors Bureau and Mississippi Department of Transportation sponsored a $2 million refurbishment and renovation of the bridge in 2012, and it re-opened as a pedestrian bridge linking downtown Columbus to The Island in 2013.
During the bridge’s renovation, divers inspected the three pillars anchored in the water and found that one of them needed reinforcement, similar to what engineers believe to be the problem now, Stafford said.
The next step will be for structural engineers to confirm the shifting pillar is the problem before determining what repairs need to be done, he said.
Columbus Mayor Robert Smith said he plans to meet with Stafford and the engineers on Monday to discuss the problem and hopefully come up with a “rough estimate” of the cost.
He added it may take some time to get the necessary funding, since the city hasn’t budgeted for repairs to the bridge.
“We’ll get an idea of what it’s going to cost, then we’re going to have to talk to the state, our legislators, talk to MDOT,” he said.
Both he and Stafford said, since the bridge is historic, the city may also be able to secure some funding from Mississippi Department of Archives and History. Smith added that if some of the damage was caused during last year’s Feb. 23 tornado and subsequent flooding, the city may be able to utilize funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
“Right now we don’t know what it’ll cost to do it,” he said.
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