COLUMBIA, Miss.—Semi-trucks were among the vehicles that clogged historic downtown Columbia, Mississippi, on Monday morning after the Mississippi Department of Transportation suddenly closed a bridge that crosses the Pearl River on U.S. Highway 98.

“A void was discovered near the approach to the U.S. 98 westbound bridge over the Pearl River, prompting MDOT officials to close the bridge to traffic due to safety concerns,” MDOT said in a statement this morning.

MDOT closed the bridge, located between Columbia and Foxworth, Mississippi, around 11:30 a.m.

Highway 98 is a two-lane highway, but the eastbound bridge over the Pearl River in Marion County has been closed for several months while crews work to replace the aging infrastructure. Since then, the westbound bridge has served both eastbound and westbound traffic.

Now, MDOT is telling drivers to use State Route 35, State Route 13 and State Route 198 as detours—forcing hundreds of drivers to take alternate routes on far less-traveled roads, including through the heart of the small town.

MDOT has long planned to replace both the eastbound and westbound bridges as part of a $60-million project, but officials don’t expect that work to be complete until 2027. Officials have said that the age of the bridges, along with seasonal flooding, has made the replacement project necessary.

The old westbound span should soon be back up to serve eastbound and westbound traffic again for now, though, Mississippi Department of Transportation Public Information Officer Anna Ehrgott told the Mississippi Free Press on Monday morning.

“We are thinking more in terms of days than weeks currently,” she said when asked how long the repairs could take. “As soon as we have more information, we’ll share it with the public.”

As of 2024, Mississippi had 7,385 bridges that needed repair and 1,009 bridges designated as structurally deficient, an American Road and Transportation Builders report said. The State has taken steps to address its infrastructure issues in recent years, thanks to an influx of both federal and state dollars.

Under former President Joe Biden’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Mississippi received $225 million for bridge repairs and replacement. In 2018, the Mississippi Legislature approved the Emergency Road and Bridge Repair Fund, which has provided around $600 million for infrastructure repairs since its passage.

On July 1, 2025, a new law took effect that will increase Mississippi’s gas tax by three cents per gallon over a period of three years. Lawmakers say they expect the new tax to generate about $200 million annually for MDOT to improve Mississippi’s roads and bridges.

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