Marion County Engineer Jeff Dungan updated the Board of Supervisors Tuesday morning on the status of the various wood-piling bridges throughout the county.
Dungan informed the board of the $250 million set aside by Mississippi legislators in the Emergency Road and Bridge Repair Fund for which Marion County applied for five bridge repair projects on Williamsburg Road, New Hope Road, Shiloh Fire Tower Road, River Road and Kokomo Road.
A 10-person board made recommendations to MDOT on how and where the money should be spent, with approximately $1 billion in repairs applied for throughout the state. The awarded grants will be announced Jan. 23, and Dungan said the focus is on posted and closed bridges, which he said should bode well for the county.
If approved the grant money would be awarded in February, and it will be up to the board, not MDOT, to ensure that it’s spent properly.
Dungan also updated the board on its Local System Bridge Program balance, which is currently $785,000. The board has appropriated a large portion of the funds to repair the River Road bridge should the aforementioned grant be denied. The project had been delayed to acquire a right-of-way, which was announced to be accepted later during the meeting.
Marion County has two current contracts for repairs in progress, according to Dungan, with the first contract containing Albert Rayburn Road, East Reservoir Road and Cavanaugh Road. Dungan said repairs are almost complete on East Reservoir and Albert Rayburn would be next. The second contract contains three sites on Clear Creek Church Road, with work beginning this week.
The county is working on two more contracts, the first belonging to Sanders Drive and the second to National Guard Road and Seamon Bullock Road. The board authorized the contracts to be advertised for bids.
Bridge inspections are also currently taking place on Dewey Street, National Guard Road, Pine Ridge Road, Johnson Road, three on Old Mississippi 35 S., John Ford Home Road, Hunt Road, Knoxo Columbia Road, Shiloh Fire Tower Road, White Road, New Hope Road, Holmes-Pittman Road, Bullock Lane, Columbia Purvis Road and Spell Drive. Shiloh Fire Tower Road and New Hope Road have already been closed, repaired and reopened.
