Tuesday, April 10, 2018

Governor closes 83 bridges

Governor Phil Bryant issued the following statement.

Gov. Phil Bryant signed today a proclamation declaring a state of emergency that orders the Mississippi Department of Transportation to immediately close 83 locally owned bridges that have been judged deficient by the federal National Bridge Inspection Standards and the Mississippi Office of State Aid Road Construction. The bridges slated for immediate closure are in Amite, Carroll, Clarke, Greene, Hinds, Humphreys, Itawamba, Jasper, Jones, Lauderdale, Leake, Lincoln, Newton, Pike, Smith and Wayne counties. The proclamation also applies to bridges that are found to be deficient in the future.

The bridges will remain closed until they are in compliance with federal and state laws, regulations and standards.

“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.”

In November 2016, the Federal Highway Administration Mississippi Division Office began working with MDOT to review and evaluate the bridges that were identified in the National Bridge Inventory as being in the worst condition, to ensure they were safe to remain open to traffic.

In March 2017, FHWA worked with MDOT and the Office of State Aid Road Construction to develop and implement an action plan to address NBIS compliance issues concerning the proper inspection and closure of unsafe bridges. The primary action item in the plan required the state to hire independent consultants to perform the NBIS inspections of all local bridges with timber substructure.

During the week of March 19, 2018, The FHWA Mississippi Division subsequently determined many of the bridges deemed deficient remained open to the public.

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

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

Don't bring me a problem without a solution. Wait, that's what a boss would say in private sector.

Anonymous said...

And of course the only funding mechanism the state allows counties is via ad valorem taxes. Need a road paved?, raise taxes on the little old lady's house.

Tate gets to keep all the gas tax and stick it in the general fund. Same for all of Amazon's use taxes they are remitting. That covers the idiotic things the state leaders have done in recent years and leaves towns and counties holding the bag.

Heaven help you if you need an ambulance on the other side of the county bridge.

Anonymous said...

There is no way the US DOT informed the state last week, almost exactly a single day after the legislature adjourned, that this was coming. No way. No wonder the legislature got out of town so fast.

There's a swamp that needs draining in Jackson. And it is way deeper than local government. Time for new blood in the mansion and state house.

Anonymous said...

The D.C. Swamp comes to ms counties. Boy are we screwed! County gov is the last standing government that actually provides useful services, trash pickup, road/ bridge maintenance, storm debris removal, etc.... now the swamp from D.C. Invades. High cost and red tape! Tell em to keep their dang money. I'm not big on government blackmail anyway.

Anonymous said...

Appears our state officials are more than happy to just serve as a conduit. Blame Washington and pass the buck. Let the local hacks figure out how to pay for stuff. Except of course when Trump needs some votes or wants to smoke a cigar. But actually solving a problem? That’s for people that have held a non-government job. i.e. Bryant has no place in fixing any thing.

Anonymous said...

And why do we even have state elected officials?

Feds call the shots and mayors pay for crap.

Anonymous said...

Uuuum, aaaa, urah cut taxes. Uuuuuh, lottery bad. Uuuu blame immigrants.

Anonymous said...

Thank you 9:49. The buck has to stop somewhere. Mayors and Supervisors have nobody down the hill to dump on.

We could save a bundle just eliminating a layer of government called the state.

Anonymous said...

You can't make this sh*t up

Now the super-majority was warned, if you cut taxes its going to put the state in a bad position to handle its responsibilities, like infrastructure.

But of course, Tater Thot led the charge and got the super duper massive cuts to pass both houses and Bryant signed that legislation in record time.

Now you come to the most recent session for FY2019, and Tater wants to pass legislation loaded with bonds and magical money, AND the Governor decides on what to do with transportation funds. By the grace of God, Dems and Repubs came together and blocked that foolishness. But the problem remained, nothing was done to address the states crumbling infrastructure?

More bad news is staring down the barrel people, the revenue streams are starting to dwindle, PERS will announce the retirement fund is starting to dwindle, and we are headed to hurricane season and MEMA does not have the numbers to respond to multiple emergencies across this state.

The straw has officially broken the camels back.

Anonymous said...

Apparently 9:49 nor 10:48 have worked with any county boards in the last FOREVER.
The most crooked and dysfunctional groups in our state. Petty idiots ALWAYS looking for
$ under the table. A. L. W. A. Y. S.

Anonymous said...

This is all just a publicity stunt. Those bridges are just fine, the legislature is working steadfastly on this.....

Anonymous said...

Phil's after Tate - remember, the election is just a little over a year away!

Anonymous said...

The legislature can do no wrong. They are baby gods with baby bottles and baby hammers. Don't you just love the cute little damage they do every year. "Whine Break, Whine Break, Cry Break, Whine Smash, Blame Smash, etc. This crap is truly insanity. Let's encourage more damage and heartache! This is who we are!! Mississippi Red, Rebel, Republican, Radical, Ridiculous, Rightwing, Racists, Ratchet, Rounchy, Redneck, PROUD! - The Most Unrespected, Unadmired, land mass in the world, and we elect dummies to uphold that stereotype with Pride, and wonder why our young conscious children of all races are waking up to this nonsense and LEAVING this quagmire! (With no real agenda, Some people just want to see the world burn!)

Yours Truly,

The Little Republican that Could

Jeff said...

Amen, 9:40.

"The bridges will remain closed until they are in compliance with federal and state laws, regulations and standards."

So where is the plan? How does Phil think this will happen, and more importantly WHEN will this happen? Where is the money? This is well under half a story, which is probably appropriate for well under half a government system.

Anonymous said...

6:57....said the legislator....any legislator.

Those lobbyists are getting paid millions to wine and dine county supervisors are they?

Check the financial reports for the top ten lobbyists in the state and then tell me which group if for sale?

Anonymous said...

Nice touch...declare a state emergency about a well known problem a week after the legislature goes home.

Anonymous said...

Do you have any new material @6:44 PM? You contribute the same stuff over and over and over again.

Anonymous said...

Wasn't it just a short time ago when our lawmakers decided to increase the weights of trucks going over these same bridges?

Anonymous said...

It's about damn time!
Actually, there were MORE unsafe bridges back in the '80's when Mississippi was being considered for a nuclear waste site and the first report of 100 bridges being deemed unsafe was closer to the number back then , only higher.
Then, like today, what DOT reported was numbers, not locations.
Nor have they ever told us what weight limit our bridges should currently have . No measures have been to see that these limits are not exceeded. It was ever rocket science to acknowledge the problems or make sure our bridges were safe enough for the public until all were repaired.

A list should have been IMMEDIATELY released so that our citizens could plan their routes of travel accordingly!

And, when you see the closed bridges, try to remember if, in the last 30 years, our esteemed highway commissioners " improved " the roads over those bridges so as to increase the traffic! KF, you might start with the bridge over the Pearl going into Flowood from Jackson. Did release of the list wait for enough repair work to take it off the list?

Anonymous said...

WTVA.COM has links... the list of closures and a map showing locations. I sure hope these are uploaded to Waze soon. Hey Phil, why don't you call the Air Force and let them do target practice on these bridges in return for rebuilding them?

Anonymous said...

9:50....a short time ago? Yes, it was 3 weeks ago. As reported on this website.

Anonymous said...

A bridge just doesn't get in a condition where it needs to be closed overnight. It takes years and years of lack of maintenance and neglect. It appears the Counties were just sticking their head in the sand hoping no one would get hurt or anyone would notice.

Anonymous said...

Looks to me like 6:44 has a good point, 8:14. Bridges don't give out in seconds like this. They've probably had questionable inspection reviews for years, but I bet no Republican was going to bring that up back when they were trying to pass big 'ol fat tax cuts.
That would look stupid.

Anonymous said...

Years? Try decades.


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