Road construction that has left Mississippi 7 closed to traffic just south of Itta Bena has sent truck drivers and commuters onto gravel road detours or on long alternative routes.
With work on replacing two small bridges with culverts proceeding ahead of schedule, there’s hope the highway will be back open not too long after the start of the main cotton harvest.
Leflore County has placed detour signs directing traffic around the demolished bridges on the gravel-topped County Roads 512, 254 and 141.
David Grossman, one of the owners of Quito Gin, located just south of the road closure, said that so far trucks have been managing the detour without too many problems. Farmers hauling cotton from northern Leflore County to the gin normally travel along Mississippi 7.
“It’s thrown us a little curveball,” Grossman said. “We’re hoping they’ll have it out of the way before we go to full-blown, 24-hour ginning.”
Grossman said the cotton harvest begins in earnest today and that, by Monday or Tuesday of next week, his gin would be running at full capacity, unloading between 125 and 130 trucks daily for about 90 days.
“Most of our cotton harvest will start to the south of us, so that’ll give us a window,” Grossman said. “We won’t really be hampered by (the road closure) for about 10 days.”
Leflore County District 4 Supervisor Wayne Self said he’d been checking in on the progress at the construction site and said that, so far, it appeared crews were well ahead of their original 30-day timetable to complete the work.
“They’re doing an excellent job,” Self said. “I think they’re going to finish before the 30 days.”
That could all change with the weather, though. Heavy rain would slow down construction and could make the gravel detour roads impassable for larger trucks.
“They’re making great progress because of dry weather,” Grossman said. “If it rains, all bets are off.”
• Contact Bryn Stole at 581-7235 or bstole@gwcommonwealth.com.
