Governor closes 83 state bridges including 2 in South Mississippi

GREENE COUNTY, MS (WLOX) - Gov. Phil Bryant has ordered 83 bridges throughout Mississippi be closed immediately, including two in South Mississippi.

The locally-owned bridges have been found to be deficient by the National Bridge Inspection Standards and the Office of State Aid Road Construction, according to the governor's office. On Tuesday, Gov. Bryant ordered Mississippi Department of Transportation to close those bridges as soon as possible.

The two bridges in South Mississippi that will close are both located in Greene County. Both of those bridges cross Waterfork Creek and Mason Creek and both are located on Indian Hill Road, which is just east of Highway 63.

Other counties set to close bridges around the Magnolia State including: Amite, Carroll, Clarke, Hinds, Humphreys, Itawamba, Jasper, Jones, Lauderdale, Leake, Lincoln, Newton, Pike, Smith, and Wayne counties.

The bridges will remain closed until they follow federal and state laws, regulations and standards. The governor's proclamation also applies to bridges that are found to be deficient in the future.

"These bridges have been deemed unsafe for the traveling public," Gov. Bryant said. "Keeping them open constitutes an unnecessary risk to public safety, violates the corrective action plan agreed upon by the state and federal government and jeopardizes federal infrastructure funds Mississippi receives."

The U.S. Department of Transportation notified the state last week the Federal Highway Administration is concerned that the bridges remaining open create an unacceptable safety risk to the traveling public whose remedy requires immediate federal, state and local action.

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