Smaller Counties Need State Help to Fund Bridge Repair Projects

NOXUBEE COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – We’ve reported bridge and road closings across our area and the state, but there are still bridges and roads in need of repair that are still open.

For smaller counties like Noxubee, the funding to fix these roadways isn’t on hand.

It takes years for the money to come together.

Supervisors are pushing for the state to step in and help fund some if not all of the projects, instead of putting a heavy tax on locals.

For example, the new bridge on Lynn Creek Road outside of Brooksville didn’t happen overnight.

“The process has been so long. We’ve been crying to the state for years and years,” said District 5 Supervisor, Bruce Brooks.

To get the funding to pay for the repairs, Noxubee Supervisors had to make some sacrifices.

“We had to lay off doing other jobs that the state was funding to put enough money together in order to replace this bridge,” said Brooks.

Funding is only half the battle.

The construction is when things get tricky for counties with few major highways.

“It is a nightmare,” described Brooks. “The bus route had to reroute, the garbage trucks had to reroute, my mail carrier had to reroute, as well as the inconvenience to all the constituents that travel this road.”

Across Supervisor Brooks’ district, another bridge has taken far longer to plan than the one on Lynn Creek Road.

It’s taken him almost 6 years.

“I’ve been working, trying to get this bridge replaced,” said Brooks.

The outdated, wooden bridge on Harrison Road sits over a wetland, making an overall replacement project cost more money, money Brooks doesn’t have.

He is one of many Supervisors pushing for state funding.

“If the legislature would fund the roads and bridges, projects like this we can get done,” said Brooks. “We don’t need the legislature to pass any bills in the road or bridge funds that’s un-mandated and pass it down to the locals because we’re taxed out. That’s just putting a burden on the locals, and that’s not fair.”

As of 3:00 Thursday afternoon, two bills, House Bills 354 and 359 were passed in the State House of Representatives.

Both work together to provide priority and funding to these roads and bridges.

If passed in the Senate, it would give counties like Noxubee the help they need with these projects.