Jackson Jambalaya

Where is the Adkins bridge exactly?

Wonder about the two on Westbrook. The one closest to the river appears to be collapsing

Who in the hell closes a bridge at 5 P.M. in Jackson on a Friday...Oh, never mind Jackson does.

Westbrook is inundated with cars going to and from the soccer fields at the end. There are several tournament weekends with cars all weekend long. Over the years, I'm sure the extra traffic to MBA for basketball and the soccer fields has stressed the bridges considerably.

Jackson didn't do it. Bridge inspectors hired by the state did it. They've closed hundreds all over the state.

3/22 @ 10:21, the statement released by the City is technically incorrect as to the location. What they are referring to as Adkins Boulevard actually becomes Colonial Circle about midway between Ridgewood and Old Canton going east, where it starts running beside the former Colonial County Club golf course. The bridge in question is just west of the intersection of Colonial Circle and Old Canton, right after the "S-curve" going west, and goes over Purple Creek.

The only thing more alarming than the fact that we still have WOODEN BRIDGES in our capitol city is the fact that it will take a year and a half to replace them.

This will be one helluva reward for some local 'Project Manager' who contributed to Chocumway. And I'm not talking about a contractor....just the guys who are put in charge of general oversight, with a pickup. Usually a retired guy who has a lawn mowing business or similar.

6-18 months, huh? It takes the City 2-3 times longer to finish projects (think about the repaving of Ridgewood road) than any other city.

Therefore, I give it 1-3 YEARS.

6-18 months? DPW's Miller either lacks confidence or now realizes how screwed up Jackson truly is. Where is the story Kingfish that the special infrastructure tax has been raided to bailout Jackson?

8:13, your opening state mentioned shows your utter ignorance, therefore negates your unsupportable accusation in the rest of your comment.

Jackson, just as every other city and town in the state, and most every other state, still has timber bridges. Many of them. In fact, there are timber bridges being built today in certain situations across the country. Bridges built 20, 30, 50 years ago were commonly timber structures and have not been replaced because you think they are now ' out of date' construction.

The State Aid division of MDOT has - as required - evaluated bridges throughout the state, and has required many, timber and other construction, to be closed until replaced or repaired. This is not a new phenomenon, happens with regularity.

And when they are replaced, if they are under the State Aid system, they must be done under their requiremen's which includes the project engineer having a project manager on site overseeing the construction process.

When you finish your engineering degree and get appointed state aid engineer, you can work to change this process, along with mandating that the state's 2000 or so timber bridges all being replaced. In fact, you can develop a system whereby this replacement can be done in one or two weeks with no engineering being required.

Until you reach this pinnacle, why don't you keep your snark commentary restricted to the sports bar with your beer drinking buddies?

@10:21 where's your bona fides?

I don't care whether it's a brick bridge, timber bridge, steel bridge, or bridge of straw. It's going to be a royal headache for folks who live off Old Canton to get to the interstate with that bridge out for 18 months.

6 months if a real engineering firm does the work. 18 plus months if they hire IMS. Just ask Hinds County.

Anon. 12:54, not really a "royal headache", more of a slight delay. All they have to do is take Pear Orchard to County Line or go a few more blocks on Old Canton to where Colonial Circle starts between Parkway and South Park drives. Minor detour, fortunately.

2:58 - major headache? what would you propose - waving your magic wand and having the bridge replaced overnight? Yes, it'll be a bitch. Just like other folks have had to deal with in other areas of this city, county, and other cities around the state. Just like on I-55 south, or Hwy 49 south. Its called "construction". And it doesn't happen overnight.

Hanging Moss bridge was replaced two years ago (by the way, it wasn't a timber bridge) and it caused a major detour for many more folks than this bridge on a collector road, not a major artery. Pear Orchard, or Colonial Circle, are good options to get to I-55, or travel down Old Canton.

Some folks just like to bitch - keep on and see how much that speeds up the replacement.

11:26, tell me which bar you are meeting your buddies at and I'll show you my Civil Eng degree from MSU. Don't plan on bring in a cirriculum vitae with me because I don't give that much of a damn.

@2:58 - spot on! And at 3 times the price.

My retort to the imbecile at 10:21 must have been zapped because I told him to kiss my ass.

While I have zero confidence in Baby Chok and his minions, I'll take that crowd over anything done by Dick Hall. What is the over/under on the completion of I-55 at Byram? 15 years?

10:21 - Please list another major city that has seventy year old wooden bridges on primary, heavy-volume, inner-city roadways.

Sports bar? Beer Drinking? Ignorant? Unsupportable? Wow - You sound so angry. Is it because you might not get a project manager position?

This will become normal soon in Jackson and bad bridges will be just like bad roads.

8:26, Clinton. Vicksburg. Natchez. Hattiesburg. Meridian. Want more?


Nope. I'm not in the industry - Any more. Have been in earlier life and recognize the fact that it takes time to design, bid and construct projects. Recognize that it often creates inconveniences. And recognize that a bunch of self proclaimed know nothings like to bitch about anything and everything - ignorant people making comments assuming everybody else but themselves are corrupt and also inept.

You seem to qualify on all counts.

This thread is a prime example of why the internet and social media has become unpleasant and invidious.

Most adults would never use verbiage like "a bunch of self proclaimed know nothings like to bitch about anything and everything" and "why don't you keep your snark commentary restricted to the sports bar with your beer drinking buddies" in real life, but somehow chest-puffery has become acceptable online.

Grow up, boys. Internet machismo is for losers.

Maybe a decent point 1203, except that you skipped the first step. In regular conversation the original comments made wouldn't occur because those people who want to accuse everybody of being a crook, only into projects for their own benefit, and discussing subjects that they have little or no knowledge of wouldn't happen.

Maybe a question, or an exclamation, that "gosh, I didn't know we still had wooden bridges" may have been made, but not the deprecating comment about 'only in Jackson would they still....".

Yes, the responses are oftentimes too snarky. But also many of the comments are just too dumb to have been made in normal conversations.

8:26 - timber bridge statistics for your reading pleasure:

The geographical distribution of the NBI inventory data shows that 19 States have greater than 500 bridges (Figure 1). States with more than 1,500 timber bridges include Louisiana, Iowa, and Minnesota; States having 1,000–1,500 timber bridges include Texas, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska. States having 500–1,000 bridges include North Dakota, California, Oregon, Washington, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Alabama, New York, North Carolina, and Florida. The remaining 31 states have less than 500 timber bridges in their bridge inventory.

I guess you assume that all 1000-1500 timber bridges in Mississippi are in Jackson. Hell - many of these are not even in cities or towns, they are on highways. And still today, timber bridges are being built along major routes.