Following a declaration from the governor to close bridges across the state, the future of these mostly rural bridges remains uncertain. 

Gov. Phil Bryant has issued a state of emergency and ordered that 83 bridges in 16 counties across the state immediately close following a bad rating from the federal government. 

The list of closures includes four bridges in Lauderdale County, one in Clarke County and two in Newton County. All bridges are locally maintained. 

“These bridges have been deemed unsafe for the traveling public,” Bryant said in a statement. “Keeping them open constitutes an unnecessary risk to public safety, violates the corrective action plan agreed upon by the state and federal government and jeopardizes federal infrastructure funds Mississippi receives.”

A call to Lauderdale County Road Manager Rush Mayatt Wednesday morning to determine the schedule for closing, fixing and re-opening the bridges wasn’t immediately returned. 

The four bridges in Lauderdale County closed are Lakeview Golf Course Road over Branch, Greenhill Road over an unnamed creek, Buntin-Gunn Road over Gunn Branch and Snowden Road over House Creek.  All of those bridges remained open Wednesday afternoon. 

The lone bridge added in Clarke County is the County Road 430 bridge over Hurricane Creek. In Newton County, the Liberty Church Road over Bogue Falema Creek and the Hickory-Fellowship Road over Pottercitto Creek Relief have been closed.

The bridges targeted for closing were constructed between 1962 and 1991. Most see as few as 150 cars a day, with the exception of the Buntin-Gunn Road bridge, which sees 1,040 cars daily, and the Hickory-Fellowship bridge, which sees 520 cars.

In total, Lauderdale County has 309 bridges while Clarke County has 131 and Newton County has 143. (For a list of all bridges across the state, click here.) 

“All of these bridges that we’re talking about are county bridges or city bridges,” said Lanny Glover, a spokesperson for the Office of State Aid Road Construction.

Funding for bridges from the state legislature has fluctuated. In the latest session, Mississippi legislators finished without agreeing on a long-term funding plan for highways and bridges.

Currently, Glover said the office is waiting to see funding options from the federal government and when bond amounts will be distributed.

“Maybe next year the money will be provided to us,” Glover said. “The fact is, we have a lot more bridges than we have funds for.”

Glover said the office would be working closely with county engineers and county boards of supervisors on the bridges.

These bridges are in addition to bridges already closed following previous inspections.

Previously, eight bridges in Lauderdale County had been closed after receiving low scores on inspections: 35th Avenue over Gallagher Creek, Beaver Pond Road over an unnamed creek, Stuckey Bridge Road over Chunky River, Pickard Campbell over Bucatunna Creek, 34th Street over Gallagher Creek, 40th Street over Gallagher Creek, Woods Road over Harper Creek and 52nd Street over Gallagher Creek. 

While the Mississippi office of State Aid Road Construction lists all of these bridges as closed, it doesn’t specify when these bridges closed. The pages listed the most recent update as Jan. 5 of this year. 

All bridges appeared to receive low scores on their substructure rating, save for the 52nd Street bridge over Gallagher Creek. That bridge had “very good condition” for three of the four categories and a “fair condition” on the fourth, though these scores count for only 55 percent of a bridge’s “sufficiency rating.” It is unclear why that bridge was closed. 

According to the office, the substructure describes “the physical condition of piers, abutments, piles, fenders, footings or other components… all substructure elements should be inspected for visible signs of distress including evidence of cracking, section loss, settlement, misalignment, scour, collision damage and corrosion.”

In Clarke County, previously the County Road 110 bridge over Fallen Creek and County Road 378 bridge over Okatibbee Creek had closed. County Road 110 had a critical score on substructures while County Road 378 had a critical score on superstructures. 

The only bridge previously closed in Newton County, according to the office, is the Griffis Fountain Road over the Chunky River. This bridge had an “imminent” failure score on superstructures.

Bryant’s order Tuesday is an unusual intrusion by the state into what’s normally a local decision, and it shows the power of the threat of losing federal money. Previously, the U.S. Department of Transportation sent Bryant a letter saying Mississippi’s bridge-inspection program was not meeting federal standards.

The Federal Highway Administration forced an intensive round of bridge inspections in Mississippi in 2016 after concluding the Office of State Aid Road Construction was doing too little to oversee how cities and counties examine local bridges.

The state transportation department does not directly control the state aid road office, but federal officials threatened money that the department spends on state-maintained roads if the department didn’t force the office to comply.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.