Bridges and railroads in Mississippi will be getting a facelift courtesy of a hefty amount of money from the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., announced on Monday that the federal agency is delivering $111,432,520 to replace 13 bridges and rehabilitate another and $59,525,044 to support rail projects to improve railroads.
Funding for the bridge and rail projects comes from President Joe Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which Wicker helped negotiate as the then-highest-ranking Republican on the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee.
Bridge Projects
Wicker prioritized rural corridors in his letters of support for Bridge Investment Program Grants. The grant program modernizes and enhances infrastructure, bolstering the safety, efficiency, and reliability of the movement of people and freight over bridges.
$43,920,000 will go toward rehabilitating the Coahoma County Bridge that crosses the Mississippi River from Helena, Arkansas, into Lula, Mississippi.
In addition, the Mississippi Department of Transportation received $67,512,520 to replace the following 13 bridge structures in central Mississippi:
- Five bridges in Newton County constructed in 1929 and 1930
- Five bridges in Madison County constructed between 1929 and 1939
- Three bridges in Lauderdale County constructed in 1928 and 1929
“Mississippi’s economy and people should not be traveling on nearly century-old bridges. This bill provides the investment our state has needed to make the necessary repairs or replacements,” Wicker said. “I am pleased that the bill I helped negotiate keeps bringing solutions to Mississippi.”
Rail Lines
Improved rail lines will help deliver freight on time and increase economic development in the state, Wicker contended. Money going to Mississippi’s rails includes:
- $30,600,000 for final design and construction to improve track conditions on eight Patriot railroads across the southeast. The project will focus on replacing rails, ties, and switches.
- $18,247,915 to expand service capacity and capabilities along the approximately 200-mile Grenada Railroad, improve road crossing conditions and safety, and harden the infrastructure to support growing freight demands in the region.
- The grant funding will allow the railroad to rehabilitate twenty-seven at-grade road crossings, add signals to improve safety in the surrounding communities, and eliminate six hundred rail joints. In addition, the project would increase the physical capacity of the Canadian National Grenada Railroad interchange in Canton to facilitate rail service for multiple new industries and add siding capacity to reduce the number of blocked crossings.
- $2,942,412 to improve the efficiency and capacity of the Lowndes County Port’s existing tenants and operators, provide rail access to additional port properties and subsequently induce a freight modal shift from trucks to rail and barge for the port.
- $7,734,717 to create new rail connections to shippers and improve the safety and performance of rail shipments along the Natchez Railway.
- This is the only east-west rail line serving rural Southwest Mississippi.
“I was glad to support these projects,” Wicker added. “They will help create jobs, keep freight deliveries on time, and boost economic development. These rail lines will help keep Mississippi moving.”
