U.S. 61 North is dry around Redwood, though highway officials say they are not ready to open it without further testing. Meanwhile, inspections by the Mississippi Department of Transportation continued today on tender spots on U.S. 61 South near the Big Black River.

A team of pavement engineers scratched and drilled through the surface of 61 North Thursday and found a rising water table along a low spot under the Mississippi 3 overpass — barely 6 inches below the surface.

“If we turn traffic loose too early, we’ll spend a bunch of money trying to fix it,” said Bill Barstis, a pavement research engineer with MDOT, while crews pumped water out of a foot-deep hole drilled in the asphalt near the overpass. An exploratory hole drilled about 50 yards north came up dry.

Tests to measure how heavy a load the road can withstand and drilling for seepage will dictate when 61 reopens at Redwood and near the Big Black River, where Barstis’ crew was to inspect today. A falling weight deflectometer will simulate loads typical of vehicular traffic and detect weak spots in the foundation of the road. Holes to check for thickness and any seep water are patched on the scene.

The Mississippi River jumped above flood stage at Vicksburg, 43 feet, on May 1; on May 19, it crested at a historic 57.1 feet, nine-tenths of a foot higher than the highest-recorded 56.2 feet in 1927.

“If the pavement is flexing too much, we’ll probably keep the heavy traffic off it,” Barstis said.

Water still covers U.S. 61 South at the Claiborne County line, where “blisters” in the asphalt were seen by state engineers this week. Both are major truck routes for heavy industry, as are parts of nine state highways from Yazoo to Wilkinson counties due to flooding. Weights on state roads are limited at 57,650 pounds.

Inspections have found pavement decidedly softer on the main road, Central District Commissioner Hall said. MDOT has said the bridge across the Big Black appears more stable than the road.

“One factor is whether or not it can support trucks,” said Dick Hall, who expects the department to issue a “protective” update today on when traffic can return to all roads closed due to flooding. “We’re optimistic about 61 North and 49 West (in Yazoo County), but 61 South is a different story.”

This morning’s readings showed the Mississippi River fell three-tenths of a foot to 54.9 in the past 24 hours. The slow fall is seen as vital to the sides of a saturated mainline levee system that has held steady during the historic flood, save for spotty instances of sand boils and slides.

Levels at the Steele Bayou Control Structure were 104.2 feet on the river side, down two-tenths of a foot. The land side rose five one-hundredths of a foot to 89.9 feet. About a quarter-inch of rain fell across Sharkey and Issaquena counties Tuesday through Thursday, contributing to the slight rise, said Marty Pope, senior service hydrologist with the National Weather Service in Jackson.