Lumpy Mississippi 465 reopened to traffic

Published 11:45 am Friday, June 24, 2011

As Mississippi 465, the last major flood-damaged highway, reopened to traffic Thursday, the Mississippi Department of Transportation’s chief engineer for the district said shoring up dips in the soft shoulders will take the state through the summer.

Slides on the outside lanes have created pits 7 to 10 feet deep in some spots, and drivers are notified by barrels and markers.

“We’ve got a good bit of repair work to do in the coming months with shoulder slides,” said Kevin Magee, engineer for the Mississippi Department of Transportation Central District, adding the task of building up the soft supporting soil on the roadsides “requires a lot more work” than sections of U.S. 61 closed during the river’s historic rise in Vicksburg.

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The main access road to Eagle Lake was closed May 3 as backwater inundated vast areas of low-lying commercial and farming property around the intersection of 465 and U.S. 61 North.

Floodwater over some sections of the two-lane highway reached 6 feet deep during the flood weeks that saw the Mississippi River rise to a historic 57.1-foot crest on May 19.

Motorists detoured through Sharkey and Issaquena counties, via Low Water Bridge Road, prompting emergency repairs last weekend to rough spots on 465’s thin surface atop the mainline river levee.

Once the barricades were lifted on 465 from U.S. 61 North to Steele Bayou at about 3:30 p.m., traffic flowed freely.

On Tuesday, Warren County supervisors will meet to lift the evacuation order for the Eagle Lake community’s approximately 600 residences.