City to share in increased Northside Drive bridge costs

By Randy Bell

File photo from August 2014, showing the Northside Drive bridge under repair

     When Hinds County agreed to cover the entire cost of repairing a bridge in Clinton, the assumption was that the concrete deck could be reused. But that’s not the way it’s turned out.  As a result, the City will pay $90,500 for a new deck for the Northside Drive bridge.

     Consulting City Engineer Bill Owen explains: “The deck slabs had eight inches of asphalt on them.  And, quite honestly, they were fifty [years old], and some of them even older than that.  So, when they finally got the asphalt off and got the deck spans off, there were three that had cracks in them and a few others [that] probably would be usable but, [because of structural concerns], it would be likely that the bridge would be weight-posted.”

     Fortunately, Owen says, Clinton had some funds available for pay for the new deck.

     “The decision was made to take some money that the City had left over [from this year’s paving program] and put that toward the new deck slabs.  The slabs are basically three-and-a-half-feet wide, and there are seventeen of those that go across the road.  So, they’ll replace those with new ones.”

     Hinds County Director of Public Works Dexter Shelby says the County had already committed more than $300,000 to replace the bridge’s wooden support structure with new concrete pilings; and, with the City’s help, Shelby says the final result will be even better.

     “It’ll be a brand new bridge.”

     He says the timeline for finishing the project depends on how quickly the deck slabs can be delivered.

     The Northside Drive crossing over a branch of Bogue Chitto Creek was blocked off in March, after an inspection showed advanced decay in the wooden supports.  The bridge dates back to the 1970s.

     The Board of Aldermen voted September 17 to pay the City’s share of the project.  It also made final payment of $1,155,258.37 to AJ Construction, whose bid for the 2024 paving program was less than expected, allowing crews to resurface not only the original twelve streets on the list, but also two additional streets—Oak Meadow and Rockingham.  Owen says the fourteen streets were paved in record time, nineteen days.