Local Legislators Want Bridge Named for Brown

LOWNDES COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) — State Rep. Gary Chism has transportation on his mind in the first days of the Legislature.

Chism and the rest of the Golden Triangle delegation have introduced a bill to rename the Highway 82 bridge over the Tenn-Tom Waterway in Lowndes County in honor of the late State Senator Terry Brown.

Lowndes County supervisors recommended the memorial last month.

The Columbus Republican was elected to the Senate in 2003 and climbed his way through the ranks to become Senate Pro Tem — the second highest-ranking position. He died last September after a year-long battle with a cancer-related illness.

Another Chism bill would allow trucks traveling from the two Lowndes County ports to major industrial sites in the county to exceed posted truck weight limits with state transportation department approval.

Ports along the Mississippi River are allowed similar waivers.

Local leaders say it would promote economic development.

Most of the traffic would be from the East Bank Port on the Island in Columbus out Main Street and Highway 82. A busier route would be from the West Bank Port to Steel Dynamics, Paccar and other plans surrounding the Golden Triangle Regional Airport.

The state and Lowndes County have improved several those service roads to handle heavier loads, especial scrap metal and ore going to Steel Dynamics.