The Mississippi Department of Transportation has closed a three-quarter-mile stretch of road between Ferry Road in Lowndes County and Self Road in Monroe County, to repair a bridge over the Buttahatchee River.
MDOT Northern Commissioner John Caldwell told The Dispatch MDOT closed the bridge on SR 373 after a routine inspection revealed advanced underwater erosion on the bridge’s foundation.
MDOT will now need to determine whether to repair or replace the bridge. That decision will be made within the next few weeks, he said.
“It’s going to take a while for sure,” Caldwell said. “It’s not a critical path bridge. This one’s got a decent detour around and traffic is such that it’ll go through the normal process. I would think in the next few weeks they’ll have a better idea of the path forward.”
Caldwell said a repair or replacement job may be necessary for the bridge, and that work could take between a few months to a year depending on the actual damage and scope of the project.
For those that live in the area, District Engineer Matt Dunn said drivers should not be concerned about the bridge outage, and that detour routes to Highway 45 North are available via Gravel Pit Road on the north side of the bridge and via Barton Ferry Road East on the south side.
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