This list includes bridges that are open at the moment, but that were subject to inspections by federal inspectors and the Office of State Aid Road Construction. The inspections revealed that they had suffered severe deterioration. Jason Scott, MDOT’s Public Information Officer, stated that based on the inspections, it is not a matter of whether these bridges will fail. It’s a matter of when. “The state will now take over, as the counties aren’t doing it. Those bridges will be closed until they’re repaired and up to federal standards. Scott stated that the states have 24 hours to close bridges following an inspection’s findings. However, some bridges on the last week’s list had to be closed as far back September. Scott stated that if the counties fail to comply, the state could lose federal transportation funding. Bryant’s April proclamation gave MDOT the power to close bridges until they comply with Federal Highway Administration standards. Jasper and Smith counties sued Bryant for keeping their bridges open. However, a judge from Chancery Court ruled against them. MDOT sent a list of 60 bridges. This indicates that certain counties are still at different places regarding which bridges should be closed. Charles Sims, Public Works Director in Hinds County explained that some of the county’s deteriorated bridges were fixed and opened by the county following State Aid’s inspection. Some bridges on the list were not subject to a second inspection because they didn’t receive one. Sims stated that some bridges need to be repaired, while others are already in good repair. “[The inspectors] take a long time to return and do the re-inspection. The state aid engineer Harry Lee James stated that re-inspections can take anywhere from a week to one month. According to James, re-inspections must be performed by the same company that conducted the initial assessment. In addition, inspectors are responsible in at least 10 to 12 counties. James stated that it is just a procedure they must go through. James said that there are hundreds of bridges that inspectors are inspecting. Therefore, they must incorporate the [re-inspections] into their regular inspection schedule. This adds work to [the firms], so we need to renegotiate the price for the reinspection. “All this is done with public safety in mind. It is unfortunate that some counties were not able to close the bridges for any reason.” State Aid’s website reports that Mississippi currently has 514 closed bridges owned by local governments and county officials. Sims stated that the delay between inspections causes bridges that have been opened to be included in State Aid’s total number. Jones and Hinds counties had 15 and 13 bridges respectively, respectively. Click here to view the complete list of bridges MDOT has declared urgently closed (MDOT stated that the bridge in Webster County shouldn’t be counted). Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this story refers to “MDOT’s list”. The original list of bridges came from the Office of State Aid Road Construction, and was later sent to MDOT.