The Mississippi Transportation Commissioners have included the Gums Crossing Bridge on Yalobusha County Road 221 in their latest round of financing for infrastructure revitalization.
The Gums Crossing Bridge over the Skuna River and headwaters of Grenada Lake was a vital transportation link between Grenada and Yalobusha Counties before it’s partial collapse and closure in 2019.
“We have a lot of people that work in Grenada County from Yalobusha County that this impacts,” Michael Lott, president of the Grenada County Board of Supervisors, explained. “It’s been causing them a problem having to drive miles around. This funding is going to make it easier on those citizens that work in Grenada, and it’s also going to help on law enforcement and ambulances.”
This year’s Emergency Road and Bridge Repair Fund (ERBRF) will distribute $3.14 million to the Yalobusha County Board of Supervisors to supplement their portion of the $20 million bridge construction. These funds were appropriated by the Mississippi Legislature during its session earlier this year.
The Federal Highway Administration is covering 80% of the bridge’s cost, and between this grant and an earlier state allotment of $1 million, the county’s remaining portion has now been covered. This means the Board of Supervisors will no longer have to issue a bond to fund the project.
According to Gaylon Gray, supervisor for Yalobusha County’s District Five, construction on the new bridge has been slowed by a number of factors, including high waters in Grenada Lake and old pilings that had to be removed and filled. The contractor, Malouf Construction of Greenwood, has nearly completed its temporary work bridge. From there, work on the main bridge should begin, and it will continue as long as the lake remains below 220 feet. Its estimated completion is still uncertain.
Plans have also already been made to replace the nearby bridge at Graysport Crossing in Grenada County. This will not occur, however, until the Gums Crossing Bridge is open to the public, so the residents in this area will not be completely isolated from nearby communities.
For Michael Lott and the rest of Grenada County, the reopening of the Gums Crossing Bridge will be a celebrated occasion.
“It will mean a lot to Grenada County and the citizens here that go that way, but mainly the Yalobusha County people that do business in Grenada every day,” he concluded.
