Bridgework is continuing across the county to ensure public roadways will remain open as the Pearl River County Board of Supervisors deal with road and bridge maintenance issues.

Les Dungan with Dungan Engineering said that the bridge on Shenandoah Road near Poplarville will be replaced in early January. Bids for the project were considered by the Pearl River County Board of Supervisors during Monday’s meeting. The lowest bid came from Fred Fayard of Vancleave at about $180,000, very close to the bid estimate. Dungan said the bidder will conduct the repairs using a third party crew who replaced bridges on Silver Run Road and several others across the county. Dungan said that crew did a good job on those previous projects, so he feels confident that trend will continue with this project.

The Board accepted that bid.

In other road repair matters, Dungan said that there is a $250 million state bond fund that could be used to repair a number of roads and replace bridges. The stipulation is that projects submitted for consideration from Mississippi’s 82 counties  need to be shovel ready.

To help in that application process, Dungan formed a short list of projects that meet the criteria. The main project on the short list includes a bridge on Progress Silver Run Road that is rated low weight, but is located near a farm supply business. Dungan said the commerce aspect of the work is why he put it at the top of the list.

Some of the projects listed included a bridge on McNeill McHenry Road that is supported by timber piling and a bridge on Troy Dedeaux Road. Dungan said the project on Troy Dedeaux is at the bottom of the list because it’s on a dead end road.

Work to replace a bridge on Harry Sones Road has been complete since September, but the final inspection was set for Monday morning.

Some money from BP settlement funds will soon be used to repair FZ Goss Road. Dungan said the county has been awarded $525,000, which he feels will be enough to repair and repave 3.65 miles of the road.  The work will include base failure repairs, overlay and striping and will include the small section within Hancock County. District IV Supervisor Farron Moeller asked Dungan to include culvert repairs to the project if funding allows.

Dungan said he is in the process of getting that project ready so when warmer weather arrives in the spring, he can ask the Board to go out for bids and begin work soon thereafter.