MDOT Plans One-Pass Cleanup On Highways
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Debris from Winter Storm Fern lines Highway 7 south of Water Valley ahead of a planned MDOT cleanup.
JACKSON – The Mississippi Department of Transportation will award a contract later this month for storm debris removal along state highways in north Mississippi.
Mississippi Transportation Commission Northern District Commissioner John Caldwell said cleanup is expected to begin in late April. Caldwell said the agency first had to quantify the downed debris before putting the project out for bid last month.
Caldwell said the contract will include removal of all debris from Winter Storm Fern, including limbs and trees placed along rights of way by residents.
“We will get everything on the side of the road, a one-time pass,” Caldwell told the Herald, cautioning that unlike most municipal and county pickups, there will not be multiple passes.
Caldwell said the contract covers a broad area and the timeline for specific highways and counties will vary.
“We have to be completed within six months of the event to receive full federal reimbursement,” he said.
Winter Storm Fern brought ice and freezing rain across north Mississippi during the weekend of Jan. 24-25.
Initially, county officials worked on a memorandum of understanding to include state highways in the county’s debris removal contract, but MDOT ultimately decided to bid the work separately. In Yalobusha County, the MDOT cleanup includes rights-of-way along highways 51, 32, 315, 7 and 330.
Caldwell also reported that the Highway 51 bridge replacement project over the Yocona River in northwestern Yalobusha County has been completed and is expected to open in the near future.
