NATCHEZ, Miss. – Repairs to the city’s deteriorating Canal Street bridge will be done at a cost of more than $630,000 as a short-term fix while city officials plan for a new bridge that will eventually be needed.
The Board of Aldermen on Tuesday selected a Natchez-based contractor to repair the much-traveled overpass. Bridge inspectors declared it too weak for heavy vehicles.
With its $630,800 bid, Dozer beat out two other construction companies seeking the bridge-repair job.
City officials in December began prohibiting buses, emergency vehicles and large trucks from traveling on the bridge after corrosion was discovered on at least three of the nine steel girders supporting the 64-year-old bridge, which has been weakened by the rusted and cavity-ridden girders.
Money for the $630,800 bridge project is coming from the city’s rainy day fund set aside for such unforeseen expenses, said Natchez Mayor Dan Gibson.
Even with the repairs, he said, the bridge could still be considered too frail for heavy vehicles. Long-term planning will be underway for funding and building a replacement bridge that Gibson said could cost about $8 million and take three or more years to do.
“It’s a real challenge for us,” he said.
A 5-ton weight limit was imposed in December on vehicles traveling the Canal Street span near the Natchez Visitors Center. The average car weighs 1.5 tons and the average passenger truck is 3 tons, according to the mayor.
Larger vehicles – such as tour buses, fire trucks and 18-wheelers – are not allowed on the bridge and must take alternate routes as they enter or exit downtown Natchez.
This comes after the city in 2019 spent about $312,000 to rehabilitate the bridge built in 1960. The repairs then focused on various bridge components, such as decking and guardrails.
In awarding Dozer the new bridge-repair project on Tuesday, aldermen had to reject a Louisiana company’s lower bid because it didn’t provide documents Mississippi law requires out-of-state contractors to submit. C.E.C. of Lafayette proposed to repair the bridge for about $563,000 – nearly $67,000 less than Dozer’s proposition.
Dozer has the contract for another major local government construction project: upgrading Morgantown Road. Natchez and Adams County officials combined forces and money for this long-sought development.
The Board of Aldermen on Tuesday officially agreed with the mayor to obligate $668,800 to help pay for the Morgantown project with federal funds appropriated by the U.S. Congress in 2021. The money was distributed to help local governments recover from the economic stress caused by the COVID pandemic.
The Morgantown Road drainage improvement project is set to get underway soon on a section that runs from U.S. 61 to near Red Loop Road. Widening and repaving the road will be a separate project.
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