Bids on weigh stations due for Tuesday opening

By By William F. West / community editor
Feb. 20, 2003
The Mississippi Department of Transportation on Tuesday will open bids on renovation to a pair of weigh stations on Interstate 20/59 near the Kewanee exit.
Plans called for opening the bids last fall, but MDOT temporarily withdrew the project, citing questions about design elements and specifications.
The new weigh stations will have state-of-the-art systems so trucks can be weighed while in motion.
David Foster is preconstruction engineer at MDOT's Newton Project Office. He said he has seen instances where trucks were backed up bumper to bumper on the interstate waiting to be weighed. He said he believes the new systems will relieve the traffic congestion.
The scheduled completion date for the project is May 13, 2005.
In other MDOT news, Foster said bids will also be opened on Tuesday for replacing the Highway 15 bridge over Tarlow Creek south of Newton.
The bridge was built in the latter 1930s. The structure is made of cement and supported by timber pilings.
Foster said plans call for replacing it with a box culvert and he said that a detour road will divert motorists past the construction site.
The scheduled completion date for the project is Nov. 25.
Foster also said MDOT plans to open bids Tuesday to replace a bridge on an unmarked spur route from Highway 35 to the Harperville community in Scott County.
Foster said the bridge had deteriorated to the point that it had to be closed to traffic in July 2000. The structure is an assembled concrete deck supported by timber pilings.
Foster said plans call for replacing it with a box culvert.
The scheduled completion date for the project is July 16.
Foster also said MDOT is working on plans for bid specifications this spring for replacing the series of aging, narrow bridges on U.S. 11 in southern Lauderdale County.