City contractors this week will be finalizing the upgrades to the Popp’s Ferry Bridge and, good news, no other closings are expected.
Motorists and marine traffic have seen recent closures to the bridge while repairs and upgrades have taken place. The latest closure was last week, which impacted marine traffic. On Sunday morning, the bridge was closed for an hour to both marine and vehicular traffic.
This morning, bridge tenders were training on the bridge’s new operating system, which has been upgraded from an analog to a digital system.
“We did have a couple minute-long closures this morning for employee training,” said Bobby Carson, a city engineer. “We want to make sure that the system is working properly so that bridge tenders can be prepared when there is a tugboat or another large vessel needing to pass through.”
Work began in December on a $1.27 million project that involved manufacturing and installing a generator and underwater power cable and updating the electrical panel that controls the raising and lowering of the bridge’s span. The work was needed to update equipment that was installed more than 30 years ago.
Added Carson: “We will be wrapping up work this week and checking for small issues, but we don’t anticipate that affecting vehicular or marine traffic. Also, we ask that motorists be reminded to stop when the traffic light turns red so that the crossing arms can go down, and the draw can open for the marine traffic. ”
News & notes: Weekly report, traffic, council
The week that was: Last week, the Fire Department answered 168 calls for service, including 102 medical emergencies and one fire; the Police Department handled 2,121 calls for service; and the Community Development Department issued 74 building permits with a construction valuation of more than $1 million. To see the departmental reports covering last week, click here.Â
Traffic: To see the latest traffic advisories and road closures, click here.
Council: Reminder, the City Council does not meet Tuesday so that councilmembers and others can attend the annual Mississippi Municipal League convention, which is in town this week. The council’s next scheduled meeting is Tuesday, July 2 at 6 p.m.
