Many local commuters had questioned if the closed section of Old Hillsboro Road between Highway 35 N and Highway 21 S, north of Forest, would ever be reopened for through traffic. The answer to that very question came last week when Scott County District 1 Supervisor Jackie Bradford announced that repair work began on the two dilapidated bridges that are the reason for the road closure.
The road has been closed for 43 months as a result of the bridges that have been deemed unsafe to cross. The repair work began on June 24 and officials expect the road to be reopened for travel no later than Thanksgiving 2019.
“After almost four years the project to repair the bridges on Old Hillsboro Rd is finally underway,” said Bradford. “I’m proud to see this repair project has finally been started and look forward to the road reopening to traffic later this year.”
The contracted bridge repair work is being completed by N.L. Carson Construction Company from Carthage. The total estimated cost of the bridge repairs is $670,000, and per terms of the contract, work must be competed no later than 110 work days following June 24.
The funds for the repair work were procured from the Mississippi Emergency Road and Bridge Repair Fund which was part of the Mississippi Infrastructure and Modernization Act of 2018. The MIMA of 2018 was signed into law during the 2018 Special Legislative Session and authorized the issuance of up to $250 million in bonds to repair public roads and bridges in Mississippi.
In order for road and bridge projects to be possibly funded, local and state officials had to complete and submit an application that identified the projects that needed immediate attention. Scott County officials submitted an application that specified three major county road and bridge projects.
The county received a total of $1.9 million in bonds for the three projects that have been approved. In addition to the bridge repairs on Old Hillsboro Rd., there are two additional projects on Damascus Rd. and McCurdy Rd. that the county has received the necessary bond proceeds to begin work on.
State Representative Tom Miles said that securing the money for these projects was a true team effort. “These projects are something the Scott County Supervisors, Senator Terry Burton and I have been working on together for a while,” he said. “We all worked to identify local road and bridge projects that needed immediate attention. The county completed the required applications for the ERBR Fund bonds, and Senator Burton and I worked hard pushing for these requests through at the capitol. I know there are additional projects that need to be addressed here in Scott County, and we will continue to work to get those projects funded and completed. I’m glad to see these three projects getting done. These projects needed to be completed.”
“I know many people in the community have been waiting for this road to reopen,” Bradford said. “Now that work on the Old Hillsboro Rd. project is underway, I’m hopeful the road will be open by Thanksgiving.”
