The future of a bridge on Shands Bottom Road in Senatobia remains up in the air after city leaders decided to await the results of another inspection of the overpass.
Aldermen voted unanimously in December to close the bridge that crosses Senatobia Creek on Shands Bottom Road after it was deemed unsafe by engineers from the Office of State Aid Road Construction (OSARC).
A Critical Finding Report from OSARC stated erosion is encroaching into the roadway at the northeast corner of the bridge up to two feet causing a hole approximately 12 feet long and six feet deep. The report also said erosion is encroaching at the southwest corner of the bridge into the roadway up to three feet resulting in a hole measuring 12 feet long and 10 feet deep.
The Senatobia Public Works Department repaired erosion damage at both ends of the bridge, but Kevin McLeod with Elliott and Britt Engineering said there were concerns about possibly more erosion underneath the bridge where it meets the roadway.
“The problem was not the bridge itself, but the erosion on the shoulders of the road at the bridge,” McLeod explained.
McLeod presented a couple of bridge replacement options that were discussed at a Senatobia aldermen meeting Tuesday, Jan. 4, since the channel opening beneath the overpass is too big for a pipe culvert.
Option one is installing a new bridge with a center span of 80 feet at an estimated cost of $550,000, but that would require raising the elevation of the road higher than what is currently in place to prevent future flooding.
McLeod’s report said according to flood plain maps, the base flood elevation at that location is approximately 258.00 feet and the current bridge deck elevation is 257.40 feet. The report stated the new bridge’s deck elevation would need to be around 263.00, or about five feet above what is currently in place.
McLeod said raising the elevation could be another problem since there may not be enough significant distance to drop the roadway back down in order for vehicles to safely travel under the overpasses that span across Interstate 55.
Option two is installing a box culvert bridge with three chambers measuring 10-feet wide and 14-feet tall. McLeod’s report stated because of the skew of the water channel, the bridge would probably need to be approximately 250-feet long. A box culvert bridge of that size would cost an estimated $600,000.
The report also stated if a bridge is closed with no permanent plan to replace it, the State of Mississippi requires a “Big Bertha” barricade be installed at both ends where it meets the roadway for safety purposes at a price of around $4,500. If the bridge is removed entirely, the City would not have to put in a “Big Bertha”. But fencing, signage and other types of barricades are necessary for safety reasons, according to the report.
The current bridge, which is located about 70 yards west of where Shands Bottom Road crosses under Interstate 55 just south of Senatobia Sports Park, and the roadway leading to it were completely underwater last April after heavy rains moved through the area flooding the creek.
There are currently barriers in place on each end of the bridge to prevent vehicles from crossing it and warning signs in the middle of Shands Bottom Road at least one hundred yards away from the bridge warning motorists of the closure.
Buck Moore, who resides on Shands Bottom Road south of the where the bridge is located, expressed his concerns to aldermen about permanently closing the bridge.
“If you do, it could be the final nail in the coffin in the future development of property in that area,” said Moore, whose family owns approximately 600 acres along Shands Bottom Road where it meets Interstate 55 and the 740 Interchange.
“This is not a secondary road. People who live in the country club and residents of other subdivisions near it use that road frequently to get to Senatobia to work and shop. It also provides another avenue to our sports park and industrial park.”
Alderman Adam Moore suggested waiting until the next inspection from OSARC to ensure the work that has been done by the City is sufficient enough to reopen the bridge before any decision is made to replace or permanently close it.
The Board of Aldermen agreed to keep the bridge on Shands Bottom Road closed until that time.
