One closed bridge in Lowndes County is impacting a catfish farm

LOWNDES COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – Dozens of bridges are closed across the state, including one in Lowndes County.

One of those bridges is sparking county supervisors to move quickly to get it repaired.

“It’s in the heart of the catfish farm, 300 and something acres,” said District 5 Lowndes County Supervisor Leroy Brooks.

The bridge on Prairie School Road is what Brooks is talking about.

“This bridge, seemingly when it was built, was not bolted properly and consequently, has slipped over and we’ve had to close it. Representatives from the federal government have come in and they’ve closed the road, and what they’ve said is that the road is to be closed until its repaired, or you run the risk of losing federal funding.”

The closing also risks the lives of the people that work on this catfish farm.

Farmer Corey Hall said now it’s a 50 minute tractor ride and time on Highway 45 to reach the other catfish ponds.

“One of the things that would happen, catfish farming I mean, he could lose thousands of dollars because of the time it has to move equipment, so we’re going to look at a number of options to try and get this bridge repaired as soon as possible, so he won’t have that adverse effect on his farm.”

Brooks said the goal is to get the bridge fixed and back open as soon as soon as possible.

“It’s really left up to us to get it to repaired. We’ve talked to the Tenn-Tom Water Management District, who has looked at it. They’re going to make a decision about doing it, but they have been so pressed against the wall because of all the rain, so we don’t know when. So, we’re asking them to consider maybe moving it up because of the economic impact.”

Brooks said if that doesn’t work, they’re going to be fishing for more options.

“We’re going to look at the possibility of hiring a private contractor, or seeing whether the county can do it itself. We’re just of the thought that this needs to happen because he says that May is an important time for the catfish farming, so we’re going to make something happen.”

Brooks said repairs are a top priority since busy season is a month away.

“The engineers say if you’re looking at trying to get bids on it, it could cost $15,000 to $20,000 because of the mobilization of a crane. If we could do it in-house, it would cut the price considerably because all you’re doing is talking about manpower.”

There are currently 514 bridges closed in the state.