Lowndes County officials are looking at options for quickly fixing a bridge over Gilmer Creek after hearing its closure is affecting a local business.
During Monday’s regular Board of Supervisors meeting, Corey Hall, who operates an over 300-acre catfish farm owned by Harvest Select, an Alabama-based catfish sourcing and distribution company, asked supervisors to consider repairing and reopening the bridge that was closed in early March.
“With that bridge blocked off right now, my tractors can’t get across (Prairie School Road) and it’s taking us 45 minutes to get places it used to take us just minutes,” he said. “May is the start of my peak season. … I could lose a lot of my fish this season if I can’t get back and forth. I can’t do that without the bridge.”
Supervisors voted to close the bridge March 4 after County Engineer Robert Calvert told them it was unsafe due to bolts that were not properly installed when the bridge was built more than 50 years ago.
Calvert and Road Manager Ronnie Burns told supervisors the county could get the bridge repaired for free through the Tombigbee River Valley Water Management District, of which the county is a member. However, because of heavy rains and flooding in February and March, the Prairie School Road is not a priority for the TRVWMD, Calvert said.
“I would recommend writing a letter to them and asking for assistance since the bridge’s closure has an economic impact,” he said. “The actual work wouldn’t take but a day or two. It’s just waiting.”
Supervisors voted to write a letter to the TRVWMD requesting assistance with bridge repair in light of Hall’s request. They also asked Burns and Calvert to look into what it would take for Lowndes County to repair the bridge without assistance from the TRVWMD. If county roads workers could repair the bridge, the county would only have to pay for workers’ labor.
“There is a possibility we could do it ourselves,” Burns said. “It depends on what equipment we have and what we need. But I’d take doing it that way over getting a private contractor and taking on that cost.”
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