Webster County first responders working around month-long bridge shutdown when answering emergency calls

BELLEFONTAINE, Miss. (WCBI) – When a washout closed down the bridge over Highway 404 in September, the Walthall Fire Department said they expected the shutdown to last at least a week, possibly longer.

“Rainfall that washed out part of the bridge or part of the area around the bridge, causing the Mississippi Department of Transportation to close it down,” Deputy Emergency Management Director Tom Booth says.

That was more than a month ago. Since then, law enforcement and emergency crews have had to adapt to losing one of the busiest and most direct routes through Webster County, which saw as many as 700 to 800 cars a day.

“Minutes do count and we want to get people out there as quickly as we can,” says Booth.

Booth says their teams have been successful in using the alternate routes of Shaw Road and Martin Luther King Drive.

“Most locations are probably not going to see any changes in any of the response times but their may be some areas that experience small delays,” he says.

Booth says it is the locations on the west side of the bridge that are most likely to be impacted by minor delays.

“We’re actually having to come in from a different location that’s on down past it and actually coming back to that area,” he says.

Using a smart phone GPS app, WCBI estimated it would take an extra 7-9 minutes traveling the speed limit to get from the Webster County Court house to Highway 404 using one of those new routes.

But local emergency crews have much more at their disposal to cut that time down.

“911 dispatch has been good about giving good enough directions and plotting the best route for emergency services to get to those people to get them assistance as quickly as possible,” Booth says.

Booth says that the Webster County community still knows that they are doing everything they can to keep their citizens safe.

“They understand the inconvenience but they also understand that emergency services will get to them when they call,” he says.