Ron Cassada, Sunflower County’s engineer, may not command the same attention as Arnold Schwarzenegger dangling from a helicopter skid yelling “the bridge is out,” but he was able to get the message across to the Board of Supervisors during a recent session that the bridge on East Caile Road is closed and impassable.
The gravity of the closure is further enhanced by the fact that a handful of residents, whose homes are actually in Humphreys County, need the now-closed structure, which is in Sunflower County, to get to and from their homes
Cassada said repair will not be easy.
Cassada told the county leaders, “It has to be closed, I know that it isolates residents back there, but ya’ll are going to have to work that out.”
The bridge at issue is located in the southeast part of the county and crosses Brown’s Bayou near the boundary of the Sunflower/Humphreys counties line.
Cassada said the county would get the bridge fixed ASAP. “But it is a difficult bridge to fix,” he said.
He said one of the problems is that there is deeper water in the middle of the channel.
The structure needs seven to nine pylons replaced, and Cassada said in order to get the bridge back open quickly they will have to “pile-splice” it to take out the rotten piles.
Pile splicing involves cutting out the bad portions and replacing just those sections with new pylons underneath the structure.
Board President Glenn Donald said he has spoken with officials in Humphreys County to make sure they were aware of the issue.
“We have to be considerate and help them find somewhere, a way to get out, or a place to stay, you cannot just take that bridge up and lock somebody back there where they can’t get in or out,” Donald said.
He also mentioned the need for emergency vehicles to have access to the properties just in case they are needed.
Donald emphasized that the residents have a lake, Charlewan Lake, to their south and the bayou to the north and that bridge is their only means of access and egress.
“Do the engineers or the bridge closing people or whoever, do they assist the residents of getting out, because you can’t trap them back there?” he asked.
Cassada said there are other things involved and the federal engineers that ordered the structure closed are more concerned about the public’s safety.
“When a bridge inspector goes out and they say this bridge is unsafe… the federal government, and we should look at it the same way, says ‘that bridge is unsafe, you can’t leave the bridge open because somebody may die going across it,” he said.
Since there is no public road detour available, Sunflower County lawmakers said they have spoken to an adjacent landowner about the affected residents using his private road temporarily, until the link can be repaired and reopened and he agreed to allow the homeowners access, excluding the general public.
The road reportedly is very narrow and not conducive for regular traffic, it stretches between East Caile Road and Four-Mile Road.
Cassada said he has already received one cost estimate, but is waiting on a second and as soon as he receives it, he will present it to the Board of Supervisors.
“We’ve got to get this bridge open,” Cassada said.
