Travelers looking to get to Columbus next weekend will have to detour off Highway 82 East through West Point.
The eastbound lane of Highway 82 will be closed from the U.S. 45 interchange (the Macon exit) to the State Route 182/Main Street Interchange (Downtown Columbus exit) starting at 10 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Monday, according to a Mississippi Department of Transportation press release.
Westbound lanes on Highway 82 will remain open.
Key Constructors LLC will demolish a damaged portion of the Old West Point Road Bridge to prepare it for partial replacement and a 10-inch lift through 2026, Greg Mims, construction manager for Key Constructors LLC told the Dispatch.
“A while back, the Old West Point Road Bridge was hit, and this is the repair for preparing the bridge to have it open back up again,” said Matt Dunn, Mississippi Department of Transportation District 1 engineer.
Traffic coming into the city during this period will be detoured through West Point to Highway 50 and Highway 45 North to rejoin on Highway 82 East past the construction work, Mims said. Dunn said the bridge has been closed since an 18-wheeler carrying an excavator hit the overpass in October 2024.
While the bridge wasn’t at risk of collapsing or having portions fall on the highway, it wasn’t safe to drive on, Dunn said.
“(The four damaged beams) weren’t in any danger of falling in the road,” Dunn said. “But that’s why we had to stop traffic from traveling over the bridge temporarily, so … there wouldn’t be any issues with the bridge failure.”
Dunn said the work was intentionally scheduled for the upcoming weekend because there are not any high traffic events occurring like festivals or other home sports games in Starkville or Columbus. The hope was to mitigate the impact of the closure on residents and travelers that typically use the highway, he said.
The $1.7 million project was awarded to Key in November, Mims said. Mims began sending emails to county and city leadership across the Golden Triangle on Thursday to make them aware and give them notice of the upcoming closure, he said.
“We’ll put signs out … and then you got message boards out trying to warn and alert everyone (about the closure),” Mims said.
Some signage also went up Thursday to begin alerting drivers of the upcoming closure, but Mims said there will also be additional signage set up indicating the new route for drivers.
Caught ‘flat-footed’
Lowndes County Administrator Jay Fisher, said the message from the contractor caught county leadership “flat-footed” Friday morning.
“Luckily the contractor reached out to us,” Fisher said. “Had he not reached out to us, we wouldn’t have even known that it was happening.”
Fisher said he forwarded the email he received to city leaders, first responders and law enforcement to spread the news about the closure.
Emergency Management Services Director Cindy Lawrence said after receiving the email Friday, she began planning a meeting with both county and city first responders for Monday to discuss a response plan if an emergency response occurs in the western portion of the county.
“(The discussion will involve) what will be our plan of action in the event that we have some major event that happens over in that area,” Lawrence said. “… (If) you have got somebody having a heart attack, (and) you have to come back. What’s the plan? … We just need to sit down and have a discussion about it.”
Mississippi Highway Patrol Public Information Officer Trooper Bryant Flake said that the closure should not disrupt any responses from the agency that weekend and expects no impact to response times.
“We’re pretty spread out … if something happens … on that side of Columbus or towards Lowndes County, or anything like that, there’ll be somebody on the other side of that road work,” Flake said.
Flake said MHP is ready to assist as needed during the closure whether helping to direct traffic or supporting in messaging about the new route.
Dunn said MDOT plans to coordinate with local agencies next week to discuss the closure and to mitigate disruption.
“We’ll make communication locally with each of the emergency services,” Dunn said. “… On the weekend, there won’t be any issues with school traffic, with school buses. But we will speak with emergency services, local EMS, 911, etc., and that’ll be communicated very quickly with the project closing the eastbound lane.”
Dunn said after the demolition work is completed next weekend there will also be additional work done throughout 2026 to finish the bridge by its expected summer 2026 completion.
Mims said he expects another weekend closure to occur when new beams are installed at the bridge sometime next year.
“I’m hoping (for) the beginning of summer or sooner,” Mims said. “… Because that releases a whole bunch of work.”
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 33 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
