The two-lane Mississippi bridge that spans the Ross Barnett Reservoir and connects Rankin County to Madison County is now open after construction crews repaired a void under the bridge.
The Mississippi Department of Transportation inspected the bridge in July and found a void, or a large empty hole, under the part of the bridge that connects to the main road on Mississippi Route 43 in Goshen Springs.
In mid-July, the agency gave an estimated timeline of two months for crews to finish the job. They completed their work in two weeks, MDOT announced in a Monday Facebook post.
Workers removed the temporary traffic light and orange cones from the bridge. Travelers may drive on both the north and southbound lanes.
“Thanks to the determination and teamwork between our crews, Ste-Bil Grading, Inc. and drivers in the area, we were thrilled to get this one wrapped up so far ahead of schedule,” MDOT Public Information Officer Michael Flood told the Mississippi Free Press in a statement on Aug. 12. “This stretch of road sees an average of 3,500 vehicles daily, including commercial truck traffic, so we understood the importance of getting it done as quickly as possible as the closure created quite a hardship for businesses and residents in the area. That said, safety is non-negotiable and SR 43 is now a safer corridor for all traffic.”
In 2020, Mississippi Route 43 over the reservoir was closed to replace two other bridges. The reservoir is named after former Gov. Ross Barnett, a notoriously racist, segregationist Dixiecrat who led the state in the 1960s; since 2022, hundreds of residents have signed a petition calling to rename it.
The bridge over the reservoir isn’t the only one that the State has had to shut down recently for repairs after inspectors found a void. In Marion County, MDOT closed a bridge that crosses the Pearl River on Highway 98 in early July to repair a void.
Mississippi had 7,385 bridges that needed repair and 1,009 bridges designated as structurally deficient, an American Road and Transportation Builders 2024 report said. The State has designated additional state and federal dollars to address infrastructure concerns in recent years.
Former President Joe Biden’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act gave Mississippi $225 million for bridge repairs and replacement. The Mississippi Legislature also approved the Emergency Road and Bridge Repair Fund in 2018, which has provided around $600 million for infrastructure repairs since its passage.
Mississippi’s gas tax will increase by nine cents per gallon over a three-year period under a new law that took effect on July 1, 2025. Republican lawmakers say they expect the new tax to bring in revenue of $200 million yearly for MDOT to use to improve the state’s roads and bridges.
