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Infrastructure is an essential feature of modern life, but most of it is mundane. Roads and highways are miles of unremarkable asphalt. Water and sewer lines are buried underground out of public view. Bridges can be the exception. Bridges can be designed in a way that is fundamentally unique to a particular place.
Rural New England is famous for its wooden covered bridges. The English and Irish countryside is known for their historic stone bridges. Some bridges, like London’s Tower Bridge, New York City’s Brooklyn Bridge, and San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, are so unique and iconic that they are known worldwide.
The landscape of the Pine Belt is crossed by a multitude of rivers, creeks, and railroads, making bridges a necessary. In the next few years, we will be getting three new bridges that will be functional and unique to our area.
The first new bridge being constructed is over the Leaf River at East Hardy Street/Main Street - just downstream from the current bridge. The bridge will feature the words “Forrest County” in emblazoned in large letters on each end. This feature will make the bridge a unique area landmark. It will not just be another bridge, but “our” bridge.
This new Leaf River bridge will require some new road construction on each side of the river. Both Hattiesburg and Petal are now planning a number of beautification measures along this new road. At one point, Petal planned to skip these beatification efforts, which would have been a mistake. Fortunately, more enlightened opinions ultimately prevailed, and the Petal side will also be involved in the beatification efforts. It is no secret that the East Hardy Street area of Hattiesburg and the South Main Street/Harvey area of Petal could use a little sprucing up. It is my hope the new bridge and corresponding beautification will breathe some life into this area.
One friendly suggestion I would make would be for both cities to construct “welcome signs” on their side of the river. The signs could be a matching design and typeset. The Petal sign could read “Welcome to Petal” in Petal red/white. The Hattiesburg sign could read “Welcome to Hattiesburg” in Hattiesburg purple/gold.
Just down from the new Leaf River bridge will be a pair of train overpass bridges. I believe these overpass bridges are a game changer that will partly solve a problem as old as Hattiesburg itself.
Downtown Hattiesburg streets are deeply interwoven railroad tracks. The downtown Hattiesburg area currently has 22 street/railroad crossings. All of them are “same-grade” crossings, meaning there are no bridges over or tunnels under the railroads. If you are long time Pine Belt resident, you have probably been stopped by a train at most of the 22 street/railroad crossings.
The overpass project is divided into two parts. The first part, named Hall Avenue Overpass East, includes a bridge that overpasses the Canadian National rail line near Williams Street. The second part, named Hall Avenue Overpass West, features a bridge that overpasses the Norfolk Southern rail line near West Pine Street. Train overpass bridges are rare, so our area is very fortunate to be getting these new bridges.
Whenever I am stuck by a train, I remind myself that the trains were here first. It was the businesses, offices, homes, and churches that were built around them. It is blessing and curse that Hattiesburg is serviced by two major freight railroad companies and Amtrak. If those two rail lines had not crossed, Hattiesburg might not exist at all. Part of living and working in our area is accepting the regular disruptions caused by trains, but I’m glad the train disruptions will be lessened.
When you look at the bigger picture, these bridge projects create a route from Petal’s South Main Street across a new Leaf River bridge, to East Hardy Street, to an expanded Gulfport Street, to an expanded Hall Avenue, above two major railroad lines, and all the way to West Pine Street. I cannot help but think these projects will be both economically beneficial to both Hattiesburg and Petal.
The English language is full of phrases about bridges. You often hear, “that’s a bridge too far” or “they’re burning bridges.” Today in the Pine Belt, we are both figuratively and literally “building bridges.” I believe these projects will help bring our local community closer together.
Keith Ball is a local attorney and a lifelong resident of the Friendly City.
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