NATCHEZ, Miss. – Recent repairs to the Canal Street bridge have restored its capacity for buses and fire trucks, but Natchez officials will continue to ban 18-wheelers from the 65-year-old span as funds are sought to build a new bridge.
All large vehicles have been prohibited from crossing the much-traveled bridge since December 2023, when inspectors discovered corroded undergirdings that rendered it unsafe for heavy weight.
After about $630,000 spent on repairs, said Mayor Dan Gibson, an “all-clear” has now been declared for most vehicles to cross the overpass a few more years. Tractor-trailer trucks will continue to be prohibited. In the meantime, city officials will search for about $8 million needed to construct a replacement for the one built 1960.
Natchez aldermen on Tuesday voted to impose a $1,000 fine on tractor-trailer operators caught trucking on the Canal Street bridge. Signs will be placed warning them not to traverse the bridge on Canal Street that goes into downtown Natchez, where 18-wheelers are already restricted from traveling.
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The mayor on Tuesday said he and street contractors continue to hash out disagreements over how to correct resurfacing flaws made on Canal and Homochitto streets.
The flaws include defective asphalt that was laid lacking an ingredient to ensure it adheres to the surface, Gibson said.
APAC’s Adams County plant produced the asphalt and Theobald Construction Services of Vicksburg did the street work. Gibson said in January that payments are being withheld for the Canal-Homochitto project, which has a contracted cost of $1.1 million. Work began first on Canal in November and thereafter on Homochitto for two of the busiest thoroughfares in Natchez.
The mayor said Tuesday efforts are being made to iron out complications for another ongoing project: upgrading Morgantown Road. Workers have been snagged by a complex web of underground utility lines as they do dirtwork for the multimillion-dollar drainage improvement project. They’ve been hampered trying to find the buried lines and pipes, but Gibson said more cooperation is now being provided by Atmos, Entergy, AT&T, Natchez Water Works and the Adams County Water Association locating what’s underground.
Natchez-based Dozer began the Morgantown project in October to clear out trees and land. Drainage problems have plagued this thoroughfare for years from U.S. 61 to Red Loop Road. Widening and repaving the road will be a separate phase for this heavily traveled, narrow road.
While about $4 million has been appropriated for Morgantown Road from federal, state and local funds, about
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