George County supervisors have approved restoration of the 80-year-old Merrill Bridge. located south of where the Leaf and Chickasawhay rivers join to form the Pascagoula River.

Opened in 1928, the bridge was in service until Hurricane Frederic in 1979, when it was closed. It reopened in 1993.

It is the only one-lane bridge in the county.

The restoration project is expected to be completed in 2009 and will cost about $900,000.

Eighty percent of the bridge restoration funding is coming from the federal grant.