The Popp’s Ferry Bridge will be closed to vehicular and marine traffic Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights to allow workers to continue repairs to the bridge’s fender system.
The bridge will be closed from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. each of the days. The city has installed electronic message boards along Popp’s Ferry Road to remind motorists of the pending work.
Workers must raise the bridge’s draw in order to drive pilings to reconstruct the wooden fender system, which was heavily damaged by a barge in May. The fender system protects the bridge’s concrete pilings from marine traffic that veers from the navigation channel.
The $280,000 project is expected to be completed in several weeks.
“Raising the draw is the only way the contractor can get in a position to drive these pilings,” said Damon Torricelli, city engineer and acting Public Works director. “We’ve limited the work to nighttime hours, outside the peak traffic hours and to avoid school buses and school traffic. We realize this is an inconvenience, but it’s work that is vital to the safety of the bridge.”
Photos: To see photos from the accident in May, click here.
Previous collision: To see photos from a March 2009 collision that destroyed a 150-foot section of the bridge, click here.
News and notes
Budget meeting: The City Council will hold another in its series of budget meetings on Thursday at 10 a.m. The meeting, which will be held at City Hall, is open to the public. Councilmembers are holding a series of special meetings between now and mid-September as they review proposals for the municipal spending plan for Fiscal Year 2014, which begins Oct. 1, 2013. To see city financial information, click here.
Council meeting photos: To see more than a hundred photos from the three-hour City Council meeting on Tuesday, click here.
Jerry Burdine Day: To see photos from the Hiller Park ceremony to honor Jerry Burdine last week, click here.
New BC at BFD: Family, friends and fellow firefighters looked on Monday as Andrew Mason, a 17-year veteran of the Biloxi Fire Department, became the department’s newest battalion chief. To see photos from the ceremony, click here.
Storm video: Visitors Center hostess Cortney Lamar, wife of Hurricane Hunter Brian Lamar, used her smartphone to capture video of the violent thunderstorm on Sunday. In fact, CNN picked up the video from YouTube. To see a 23-second clip from a second-floor window overlooking the construction site of the D’Iberville statue, click here. To see 29 seconds of video from the front door of the Visitors Center, click here.
