Goodbye Detour, Hello New Bridge
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Northern District Transportation Commissioner John Caldwell (left) and Supervisor Gaylon Gray (right) shared duties cutting the ribbon to celebrate the completion of the Gums Crossing bridge. The new bridge opened for traffic last month after the road had been closed for over five years.
GUMS CROSSING – County, state and federal officials gathered Thursday morning, Nov. 14 to cut the ribbon marking the completion of the Gums Crossing Bridge on County Road 221. County supervisor Gaylon Gray and Northern District Transportation John Caldwell wielded over-size scissors for the ceremonial duties for the bridge replacement project that spanned five years and exceeded $20 million.
Yalobusha County Board of Supervisors President Cayce Washington was the lead speaker, tracing the arduous journey that started over five years ago when the bridge was closed after a local fisherman noticed a piling was missing and reported it to county officials.
“You never envision someone is going to call and say ‘you might want to come check this bridge out,’ and find the bridge pilings washed away,” Washington told the crowd. “You don’t expect one of the largest bridges in the entire county to become a victim of a weather event.”
An estimated 12 to 13 inches had been recorded in the county during late February, 2019, falling on already saturated ground and causing widespread flooding. The creeks swelled and strong current in the Skuna River pushed trees into the bridge pilings, crippling the original 74 year-old bridge that was constructed in connection with the project to build Grenada Lake.
The bridge was closed on Feb. 27, 2019, and three weeks later portions of the bridge collapsed.
“This is a success story that started with a citizen sounding the alarm and local leaders responding quickly to save lives,” Commissioner Caldwell told the crowd last Thursday.
The bridge closure led to a lengthy detour for areas residents and travelers on the major county route.
“Anxiety and desperation set in fast as we understood that we had a real problem and we didn’t know how to fix it,” Washington explained. “We didn’t have the money and didn’t know where to get it.”
Washington credited a lengthy list of partners who worked together to source funding for the bridge replacement project with the The U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration kicking in 80 percent of the total tally.
“We had to go out and scavenge for the other 20 percent,” Washington said.
State lawmakers allocated one million dollars during the 2020 Legislative Session for the project. An additional $3.14 million was appropriated in 2022 from the state’s Emergency Road and Bridge Repair Fund (ERBR). Washington credited state lawmakers including Senator Ben Suber, Representative Kevin Horan and former representative Tommy Reynolds and others who pushed for the funding.
“ERBR was very instrumental in keeping this county from going broke trying to fund our cost share,” Washington explained. “We talk about the redistribution of wealth, that is what I believe the American government was founded on,” he added about the collective effort. “The general population will never understand the work that went on behind-the-scenes to make this happen.”
Construction Timeline
Supervisors contracted with Garver Engineering in January, 2020, for $611,000 to design the replacement bridge. The project was put out for bid in December, 2020, and a month later a contract was awarded to Malouf Construction, LLC of Greenwood for $16.4 million.
The contract with Malouf was the largest ever awarded by the Yalobusha County Board of Supervisors.
Work started in early summer of 2021, but soon hit a snag after contractors discovered that four of the massive bridge spans from the old bridge were buried under almost 30 feet of silt in the lake bottom. The bridge spans fell into the water in 2020, a year after the bridge was damaged, and two of them were located directly where the pilings for the new bridge would be placed. The cost for removing the concrete exceeded $3 million and was outside of the scope of the initial contract awarded for the job, pushing the total cost of the project north of $20 million.
High water came just months after construction started in 2021 – Grenada Lake crested at 226.86 feet on June 25 – compounding the work as crews worked for months to dredge the areas around the concrete spans to allow them to be hoisted out of the mud.
The new bridge finally opened for traffic on October 25.
A Collective Effort
Washington extended accolades to Harry Lee James, the lead engineer for the Mississippi Office of State Aid Road Construction; MDOT officials including Commissioner Caldwell and Director of Preconstruction, Lee Frederick; county engineer Karl Grubb; and many others.
Washington recalled cornering Caldwell during a convention shortly after the bridge collapsed, explaining that the commissioner was dancing with his wife.
“I grabbed him and said, ‘Commissioner, we have to have some help.’ He couldn’t enjoy his evening. He was a man of his word and came down and met with us,” Washington continued.
“Senator Ben Suber was a freshman senator at the time. He said we was going to find some money. Representative Tommy Reynolds supported Ben’s effort, as did Representative Horan,” supervisor Washington added.
Washington also touched on the criticism during the lengthy project, especially on social media as patience waned. He noted that District 5 Supervisor Gaylon Gray fielded the brunt of the criticism as the bridge is located in his district.
“They were hammering him. Gaylon was able to squelch that, at the local level he was the real hero,” Washington said.
In closing, Washington again credited a strong team effort.
“Yalobusha County citizens, without this team of people this project would have never happened,” Washington said.
Caldwell also praised MDOT as the lead agency during the construction project.
“I am proud of the MDOT role in such a local, state and federal team effort. This new bridge is a very important connector for this community and our larger network of highways, roads and bridges,” Caldwell noted.
Dozens attended the ribbon cutting on Nov. 14 to celebrate the completion of construction on the Gums Crossing bridge. The event was held at Gums Crossing Boat Landing, located just south of the Gums Crossing bridge.
