MDOT official says river bridge ‘structurally deficient’

OXFORD — A Mississippi Department of Transportation official says the Tallahatchie River truss bridge on Mississippi 7 is “structurally deficient” and will be replaced.

MDOT supervisor Mitch Turner tells The Oxford Eagle the job is estimated to cost about $12 million, but final figures won’t be known until bids have been opened in January.

Turner says the cost of keeping up the warning system to alert tall trucks not to attempt to drive over the bridge is expensive. He also says the current bridge is too narrow.

The replacement bridge will be a concrete span bridge with shoulders on both sides of the road. It will be built on the west side of the current bridge.