The Mississippi Delta narrowly escaped aid to help with its failing infrastructure this week.
Whew! That was a close one.
Earlier in the week, the state Bond Commission rubber stamped $25 million in borrowed funds for the state to help with repairs to bridges closed by emergency declaration of Gov. Phil Bryant on April 10.
At first, there were 83 bridges closed, but according to Clarion Ledger, that number has risen to 122.
The original declaration included the immediate closure of bridges in Amite, Carroll, Clarke, Greene, Hinds, Humphreys, Itawamba, Jasper, Jones, Lauderdale, Leake, Lincoln, Newton, Pike, Smith and Wayne counties.
News reports on the recent short-term borrowing did not say any counties had been added to the original slate, and a request to MDOT’s office asking whether any additional counties had been added was not answered before press time.
As it stands, Humphreys County would be the lone core Delta county receiving emergency funds to repair bridges the Mississippi Department of Transportation was ordered to close by the governor’s order a few weeks ago.
According to a recent report by Mississippi Today, there are currently 11 bridges closed in Humphreys County.
Compare that to 24 bridges currently out of commission in Sunflower County, 28 in Bolivar and another 28 in Washington County.
All of that is not to say that counties like Amite, Hinds, Itawamb, Clarke and others are not in dire need of funding for bridges, but Delta counties are once again left to wait as their infrastructure continues to crumble.
During the winter, The Enterprise-Tocsin profiled the BRIDGE Act, a senate bill introduced during the recent legislative session in Jackson that was co-written by Sen. Willie Simmons D-Cleveland and had a special provision for funding Delta infrastructure projects.
That bill did not become law.
This leaves Sunflower County, where its engineers and local board of supervisors have been good about closing failing bridges, to try to piece together repairs one bridge at a time.
Meanwhile, the entire region remains in this chicken and egg conundrum where the state is hesitant to invest in infrastructure needs where there is little in terms of economic development, while economic development can hardly gain traction where infrastructure is failing.
If Sunflower County managed to fly under the radar by properly closing its dilapidated bridges, I would hope that state leadership would take stock in this county’s and the Delta’s recent efforts to boost its economic development through Delta Strong.
This 15-county effort to recruit business and jobs can hardly be successful if the state continues to look the other way when it comes to bringing our infrastructure up to date, or at the very least, making sure two dozen bridges are not inoperable at any given time throughout the year.
On top of manufacturing, these bridge closures also hurt our local agriculture industry, which will continue to be the heart of the region’s economy.
Eventually, the state is going to have to address the problems in this region when it comes to infrastructure, but I guess the governor will cross that bridge when he gets to it.
