Road closure coming for Hwy 43 near Cybur S-Curve for tie-in of new road
The Pearl River County Board of Supervisors met Monday in Poplarville and received an update on an upcoming two week closure of an area on Hwy 43 to allow for new construction to be tied-in to the rest of the highway.
County Engineer Les Dungan and John Lee of Huey P. Stockstill (HPS), Inc. gave the board an update on the planned shutdown of a portion of Highway 43 known as Cybur S-Curve near the intersection of Pine Grove Road between Picayune and Henleyfield for two weeks that was originally planned to start on Monday, May 13th. However, due to the forecast for heavy rain for this coming weekend, Lee does not plan on implementing the two week closure until he is confident there will be some dryer weather conditions.
County Engineer Les Dungan (left) and John Lee of Huey P. Stockstill (HPS)
Lee said he has message boards coming this week to be used to notify motorists of the closure at each end of Hwy 43 (at Hwy 26 and at Hwy 43 just north of Picayune).
Lee told the board that MDOT is making the decision to close the area to through traffic while the new construction is tied-in with the existing highway. Lee said that MDOT is planning detour routes for Hwy 43 south traffic at the intersection of Hwy 26. Traffic will be rerouted to Hwy 11 in Poplarville and then the traffic will use Hwy 11 to Picayune.
Lee said that Hwy 43 will be closed officially at the work site (Cybur Curve) and signage will be placed at Rock Ranch Road and George Wise Road reminding motorists of the closure.
Dungan said that while MDOT is not sending any of the highway traffic to the local county roads, locals will figure how to maneuver around the closure on their own using county roads.
The board stated its concern about the amount of traffic that would be now traveling on the county roads of George Wise and Rock Ranch Road. Dungan said that those roads will not be marked as a detour, but he anticipates locals will use these roads.
The board, Lee, and Dungan anticipate possible damage to county roads due to the influx of traffic on the county roads even though the state’s stance is the official detour is Hwy 26 to Hwy 11 to Picayune as noted. It was stated during the discussion the state is most likely doing this to avoid responsibility for the county road damages if they do occur during this two-week period.
Dungan said that 7,000 cars per day with 10 percent of the traffic trucks travel the section of Hwy 43 from Hwy 26 through Henleyfield to Picayune.
