Мост на шоссе Симс в округе Форрест реконструирован на 50% и готов к завершению

Sims Road bridge project reaches halfway point in Forrest County HATTIESBURG, Miss. (WDAM) - Four months after the Sims Road Bridge closed, construction crews are making progress on the project. Gentry Mordica, District 1 representative on the Forrest County Board of Supervisors, says the project remains on schedule. “We’re approximately halfway,” he said. “As advertised, it was an eight- to nine-month job, and we’re four months in. But things are actually going very well.” The bridge was moved up the county’s priority list after a state inspection found the structure needed attention. “It had come back from the state on an inspection as needing to lower the weight limit,” Mordica said. “And instead of doing that, we made it a priority to fix this bridge.” Mordica said the total cost for the Sims Road bridge project was $2.3 million. “This project was funded through a bridge bond that was done actually several years ago.” The Sims Road project is part of a broader county effort focusing on bridge replacements with wooden pilings. “Whenever we started our actual bond, we had 60 bridges within the county that had wood pilings that we needed to actually target and work on,” Board of Supervisors President Terri Bell said. “So we have currently done 21 of those bridges.” That bridge bond was about $15 million to fund the replacement work across the county. Sims Road is the final bridge to be completed using money from that bond. “Wood piling bridges are deteriorating not only in Forrest County, but all across the state and the nation,” Mordica said. “So many places have had bridges actually collapse, and we don’t want to get into that scenario here.” Crews still have work to complete around the bridge, including the banks, guardrails and approaches. “I know that this project has been inconvenient for a lot of people in our community because they’ve had to take some detours,” Bell said. “I know it’s been challenging, but it’s going to be worth it.” Want more WDAM 7 news in your inbox? Click here to subscribe to our newsletter. Copyright 2026 WDAM. All rights reserved.