Exothermic / CC
The state Department of Transportation announces work will begin in January on improving the 1-20 bridge. The two-mile bridge was built over the Mississippi River in 1973 connecting Madison Parish to Warren County, Mississippi. DOTD spokesperson Erin Buchanan says the project will provide a variety of significant repairs.
“It’s a $27.7 million project. We’ll see repairs to the bridge deck, to the electrical system, roadway light will be replaced with an LED-type lighting system.
Roadway fiber optics will also be replaced with new cameras and a radar system that integrates into Mississippi’s IT system. Buchanan says contractors are in the assembly period to get everything they need to get the work done into place.
“We’re going to get this one started about mid-January and it is probably going to take about a year. We expect to wrap it up in early 2021,” said Buchanan.
Buchanan says the structural integrity of the bridge is not in question.
“It’s not a safety issue, but it is time for this time of work to occur, this maintenance work, again, it is almost a 50-year-old bridge,” said Buchanan.
The work will require single lane closures during the project.
