Natchez Secures $1 Million in State Funding for Bridge Replacement and Infrastructure Repairs

Senate Bill 2189 specifies $500,000 for helping Natchez pay the costs associated with the demolition and reconstruction of the Canal Street Bridge, which is deteriorating and projected to have only about four years left of life.

“If that bridge is closed, it would handicap all of us – the city and the county,” Gibson said earlier this year. “We can’t afford to let it be closed. We need to be proactive.”

“Keeping Canal Street open is vital to our local economy, and the replacement of this bridge will ensure the vitality of our city for years to come.”

Construction costs for a new bridge has been projected to be nearly $6 million.

Repairs to the old, 1900s bridge a year ago restored its capacity for buses and fire trucks, but Natchez officials continue to ban 18-wheelers from the span. All large vehicles were prohibited from crossing the much-traveled bridge in December 2023, when inspectors discovered corroded undergirdings that rendered it unsafe for heavy-weight.

Records vary on the bridge’s construction date,  but it ranges from the 1940s to the 1960s.

In a separate project, Gibson and city aldermen have been trying since 2020 to decoratively illuminate the Mississippi River bridges that connect Natchez and Vidalia.

The bill the state Legislature passed Thursday does say Natchez’s $500,000 is earmarked for “city infrastructure, including, but not limited to, bridge lighting,” but doesn’t specify it’s for the Natchez-Vidalia bridge. 

The Legislature in 2022 allocated $500,000 for illuminating the bridge with aesthetic lighting, but more money is needed to install the wiring and bulbs.

Senate Bill 2189 funds Mississippi’s Local Improvements Projects Fund with $253 million for various cities, counties, and organizations throughout the state. While $1 million is earmarked for Natchez, no money is specifically allocated for Adams County.