Work has begun on a County Road 71 bridge just off Mississippi Highway 82 near McCarley.
County Road 71 runs between Beat 1, located on the east side of the road, and Beat 4 on the west, according to Beat One Supervisor Jim Neill.
He and Beat Four Supervisor Claude Fluker are working to complete the project, which is being funded through the Local System Bridge Program (LSBP).
Fluker said replacing the bridge will cost about $800,000.
In an effort to save money, lumber from this bridge is being carefully removed to be used for other bridges – with lesser weight limits – that are scheduled to be replaced in the near future, Neill and Fluker said.
“This is about to be concrete,” Neill said about the CR 71 bridge.
County officials are replacing the lumber bridge with a concrete bridge to properly support the weight of the many timber trucks traveling the road, Neill said.
In the next few months, they said, work will begin on three bridges on County Road 31 in Beat Four. Fluker said the three bridge projects are expected to total about $1 million.
Fluker and Neill said three more bridges are expected to be replaced on County Roads 176, 248 and 150 in Beat Three.
While several bridge projects throughout the county have been scheduled for completion, State Aid funding has been designated for road projects in Beats One, Two, Three and Five, Neill and Fluker said.
“There are several paving projects going on now,” said Neill. “It should be done by the end of the year.”
He went on to say, “We’ve got some State Aid projects, and we’ve got some LSBP programs.”
Neill said supervisors have been working to secure grants and speaking with officials on the federal and state levels in an effort to fund projects throughout Carroll County.
“I talked to [Congressman] Bennie Thompson about some needs in the county,” said Fluker.
