Detour extended as Ocean Springs bridge repairs take longer than expected
Those who were counting the days until the Fort Bayou Bridge in Ocean Springs reopens will have to add another few weeks to the timeline.
The April 28 completion date has been pushed out another 20 days or so to late May, said Katy Hornsby, public information officer for Mississippi Department of Transportation.
The entire $20 million project will be complete around the end of the year. Once this closure is done, it should only take limited night closures to let work continue, she said.
The bridge on Washington Avenue that connects to Mississippi 609 closed March 14. The contractor, C.E.C. of Lafayette, Louisiana, raised the bridge just a few inches and removed the bearings that weigh 4,000 pounds each. The bearings were sent to a machine shop in Miami and once refurbished, will be reinstalled.
Hornsby said the crews discovered the damage to the trunnion — or bridge axle — was much worse than anticipated.
“It’s just going to take a little longer now to do the additional work,” she said.
Memorial Day, which is one of the busiest weekends on the Coast, is May 28. Hurricane Season begins June 1, and the bridge is part of the evacuation route.
“Hopefully by Memorial Day this will be a thing of the past,” she said.
The bridge closure has caused major traffic jams every afternoon, with traffic crawling north on I-110 starting at about 4:30 p.m. and continuing until after 6 p.m.
Traffic along the other detour routes — up Mississippi 57, Ocean Springs Road, Popp’s Ferry Road, Lemoyne Boulevard and Cowan Road — also are much more congested than normal.
Hornsby said that after hearing some complaints from drivers, MDOT crews from Hattiesburg came to the Coast and adjusted the timing of traffic signals along the detour routes.
“The tweaking of things has really paid off,” she said.
This story was originally published April 9, 2021 at 12:21 PM.
