MDOT's plans for Highway 98 bridge discussed

A general overview of plans for the proposed closure of U.S. Highway 98 — to replace the 1950s-era Homochitto River Bridge — was publicly outlined during the Monday, Dec. 19 business meeting of the Franklin County Board of Supervisors.

Mississippi Department of Transportation District 7 Engineer Albert White told the panel that bids for the major construction project spanning the meandering waterway will most likely be let as early as May.

“It’s certainly going to be a big job that could last up to two years and the road at the bridge site will be closed during this time,” White explained.

To this end, the district engineer pointed out state transportation officials were reaching out to Franklin County and Meadville leaders because of the potential impact of that construction and will attempt to mitigate as many affiliated issues as possible.

“We will need an agreement with the county and town on some minor and some major things,” White went on to say.

White noted MDOT will declare U.S. Highway 84 as the recognized detour for the duration of the construction project, but past experience has shown local traffic will still use Yap and Gloster roads to get to and leave Meadville.

“Our intentions are to get all the trucks coming off of (Interstate) 55 to continue on to (Highway) 84,” he said.

“We’ll do signage and message boards in that area telling them (Highway) 98 is closed with the intention to get most of the cut-through traffic off.

“Hopefully, most of the traffic that will impact Yap (Road) and on around into town will be your local traffic — loggers, farmers and all that.

“Even though we don’t want traffic to detour that way, we’re probably going to need to put up signs so people don’t get confused and lost. Some of that signage will probably be like, ‘Detour for local traffic – no through trucks’ ... something that will be enforceable.”

White also noted in the analysis of closing the U.S. 98 bridge, MDOT found roughly $2 million in savings by shutting down the thoroughfare versus building a temporary overpass while construction is under way.

“When we close a road, we compare what it would cost to build a detour bridge right beside (the old bridge), which means buying extra right-of-way and all that versus shutting it down,” he continued.

“We were able to get the feds to agree to use those savings to help pave the roads that were impacted on the county side and the town. We figured up an overlay of an inch-and-a-half when we first started looking at it and that pretty much ate everything.

“I’ll go ahead and tell you, with the prices going up this year it’s probably going to be way more (expensive) than that, but we’re not going to back out of offering that to the board.”

County engineer Mike McKenzie raised concerns about local roads not being able to hold up under the higher volume of traffic — especially heavy trucks.

“The deal is going to be the trucks,” McKenzie said.

“That road’s got 12 inches of clay gravel, it’s got two shots of DBST and it’s got two inches of asphalt. That’s it. And it’s got 20 years more traffic now than it did when the traffic naturally detoured on it because of the accident (which closed the bridge for several months in the early 2000s).

“If the traffic counts are accurate on the trucks and we can’t stop the trucks from coming, then the road’s going to go to pot. The road base isn’t there. And y’all would never put half of that expected amount of traffic on a road like that.

“There’s a certain number of axle loads that (the roads) can stand before they fall apart. That’s math, that’s all it is. If we can keep the trucks off of it, then OK. But if we can’t …”

White admitted there were a large number of details that will need to be ironed out prior to May, but those efforts would increase as the plans for the construction effort edge closer to reality.

He pointed out other MDOT-supported upgrades will also likely include striping for motorist safety along Yap and Gloster roads and Walnut Street, improving old guard rails and addressing three or four spots on those local roads that presently need some base repair.

“In the end, the goal with all of this will be to give you something nice that will last for a while,” White pointed out.

“But now, if those roads fall apart, our agreement will not cover that and that will need to be something we figure out. I don’t think that is going to happen, but at the same time, there are going to be a few base failures here and there.”

District 5 Supervisor Jimmie “Bodi” Bass said he had some concerns what two years worth of unofficial detour traffic might do to local roads, but he and District 4 Supervisor Pat Larkin said they felt MDOT would not leave the county holding the bag, so to speak, with such issues.

Additionally, Larkin said he believed once the official detours were announced Yap and Gloster roads wouldn’t have much more truck traffic than they already see now.

“Minor repairs that come up during the project while it’s going on, like a few potholes here and there, there is money in the contract for maintenance of traffic ... the contractor uses that to patch potholes,” White responded.

“There are things we will never be able to put in an agreement, but if you need a load of gravel or if we need to work together to get something fixed, we have maintenance crews that can help.

“If existing base repair issues can be fixed before May, we will even send workers to help in that regard to make it happen.”

District 2 Supervisor Henry “Eddie” Stebbins asked White if MDOT objected to the county setting a reasonable speed limit along portions of Yap and Gloster roads for public safety.

“There are some narrow places there and residential areas where vehicles can’t safely go 55 miles per hour,” Stebbins said.
White said the county could dictate those speed limits at its discretion, and MDOT would erect appropriate signage to inform motorists as to those local speed regulations.

In a separate matter addressing weight enforcement and truck traffic along local roads impacted by the bridge closure, White said MDOT would assist the county in coordinating with the Mississippi Department of Public Safety and Mississippi Highway Patrol to help with such activities.

Supervisors pointed out Franklin County does have a “heavy haul” truck ordinance in place and that local and state law enforcement would be called upon to help make certain local statutes would be applied to help limit damage to affected roads.

Also during Monday’s meeting, White said he was in the process of getting in contact with Meadville Mayor Lane B. Reed to discuss the impact of detoured traffic on town roads.

“We’ve got to figure out how we’re going to protect the (traffic) signal from getting hit, and we’re probably going to have to take out some parking just so people can make turns,” he said.

“Our intention with the city is also to pave everything on Old Highway 84 that’s city maintained — not just in one direction.”

White said those paving efforts after the bridge construction is completed — notably along Walnut Street — would take into consideration existing curbs and gutters.

In another road issue, White confirmed a portion of Mississippi Highway 556 would also be closed as work will involve reconfiguring the intersection with U.S. Highway 98 as the new structure will be higher than the old bridge.

Supervisors opted to allow Bass, as president of the board and who has been involved in previous discussions about the bridge project, along with McKenzie and board attorney Bill Halford to represent Franklin County in such future meetings with MDOT.

“I really want us to sit down after the first of the year to work out the fine details for all of this,” White told county leaders.

“There is a lot to work out between local entities and the Mississippi Transportation Commission so the sooner we get started, the better off we will be.”

If plans continue as conceived, MDOT could choose a contractor for the bridge project this summer with work possibly starting by July at the earliest.