Under construction since 2006, the new Yazoo River Bridge will open Monday — months ahead of schedule.

Crews of the Mississippi Department of Transportation and orange barrels and signs will guide drivers onto the new, two-lane bridge about 8:30 a.m.

Lane shifts will direct vehicles northbound on U.S. 61 North across the median just south of the Mississippi 3 overpass and access for southbound traffic will begin just north of Mississippi 465.

The entrance ramp from Mississippi 3 to U.S. 61 North will be closed for about two weeks while crews connect the state highway to the new section of roadway. Motorists can access 61 North at the crossover in front of Redwood School.

“They got a little more work done than expected,” said Kevin Magee, Mississippi Department of Transportation District 3 Engineer, referencing contract builder Key Constructors’ pace of work on the $33.5 million project.

“Temperatures never got so cold that they couldn’t lay the bridge deck,” Magee said. 

Average high temperatures for January through March outpaced seasonal norms, according to statistics kept by the National Weather Service. Low temperatures have averaged about 2 degrees warmer, while average highs were 4 degrees warmer.

Immediately after last spring’s Mississippi River flooding sent waters on the Yazoo to levels higher than normal, MDOT pushed the opening date back to September. In recent weeks, state engineers hoped to open at least by June. Magee said meetings with the contractor confirmed the structure’s readiness for traffic.

Opening the new bridge eliminates the old one, opened in 1950. While often listed as one of America’s most scenic, the superstructure of the old bridge was a barrier to tall loads. It is to be taken down by year’s end and, perhaps, will be where another two-lane bridge will be built if there’s future demand.

U.S. 61 North is traveled heavily by passenger vehicles and 18-wheel rigs and log trucks. Magee said agency statistics estimate 7,000 vehicles per day travel portions of the highway between Interstate 20 and Mississippi 3. Of those, he said, about 4,000 cross the river at Redwood.

The bridge is where the four-lane ends and U.S. 61 becomes two-lane through much of the Mississippi Delta.

The new, 1,300-foot bridge will have two 12-foot lanes and from side to side, the new structure will be 40 feet, which is 14 feet wider than the old one. A pair of 8-foot shoulders will flank each lane, whereas the old bridge had no relief lanes.

Portions of U.S. 61 North from Mississippi 3 to five miles south of the Issaquena County line will be rebuilt to allow normal water flows under the new bridge.

In 2008, a federally funded resurfacing and striping project was completed on 61 between I-20 and Redwood. While most of U.S. 61 is four-laned between the Louisiana line and the Yazoo River, the idea of four-laning to Memphis can’t now be justified by traffic counts, state officials have said.

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Contact Danny Barrett Jr. at dbarrett@vicksburgpost.com