Bridges; General Provisions

Miss. Code Ann. tit. 65, ch. 21
in effect

Miss. Code Ann. § 65-21-1 Width of bridges and culverts.

All culverts hereafter built, rebuilt, or placed in any public road in this state shall be not less than the full width of the crown of the roadway, and shall have guide or warning posts on either side. All bridges hereafter built, rebuilt, or placed in any public road of this state shall be built the full width of the crown of the roadway where the same is sixteen feet wide or less, and on roads having a greater width than sixteen feet the bridges shall be not less than sixteen feet wide; and all bridges hereafter built or rebuilt shall be built with banisters on either side. This section shall not apply to temporary bridges and culverts on detours; and all public highways in this state within the area of, or contingent to, any national reforestation project, which have been or may be taken over, constructed, or reconstructed by this department of the national government, may have bridges or culverts the width of said highways, but not less than twelve feet.

Miss. Code Ann. § 65-21-3 Repealed.

Repealed by Laws, 1994, ch. 371, § 2, eff from and after passage (approved March 14, 1994). [Codes, 1930, § 6312; 1942, § 8421; Laws, 1926, ch. 223; 1930, ch. 153]

Miss. Code Ann. § 65-21-5 Illumination of bridges.

The several counties of this state bordering on the tide water of the Gulf of Mexico are authorized and empowered, in the discretion of the boards of supervisors of such counties or of any of them, to provide for the proper illumination of all such bridges and other parts of any of the public highways running in, through, or across said counties or any of them as, in the discretion of said boards of supervisors, may be deemed reasonable and necessary. Said boards of supervisors may and shall have authority to appropriate a reasonable and proper sum, to be paid out of the general county fund, for payment of the expenses of providing said system of illumination and the maintenance thereof.

Miss. Code Ann. § 65-21-7 Toll bridges and ferries.

The boards of supervisors may, when the same cannot otherwise be conveniently maintained, establish, license, construct, maintain, and operate a toll bridge or ferry on any part of a public road, and shall fix and regulate the tolls.

Miss. Code Ann. § 65-21-9 Bond of toll bridge and ferry keepers.

The board of supervisors shall require the keeper of every toll bridge or ferry to give bond with two or more sufficient sureties, to be approved by the president and clerk of the board in a penalty, to be fixed by the board, of not less than Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00) and not more than Two Thousand Dollars ($2,000.00), and conditioned to keep the bridge or ferry at all times in good repair so as to secure the safe transportation, on the payment of the fixed tolls, of all persons and property, and in all things to comply with the law and the reasonable orders of the board regulating the keeping of such toll bridge or ferry, but saving to the keeper a reasonable time within which to repair damage done by a sudden freshet, storm, or other unforeseen accident.

Miss. Code Ann. § 65-21-11 Board of supervisors may purchase privately owned bridges.

The boards of supervisors of the respective counties are hereby authorized and empowered to acquire by purchase or condemnation proceedings privately owned bridges across rivers or other bodies of water where the said bridges form a link or part of any county, public road, or highway. The boards of supervisors may, in their discretion, contract to purchase and buy any such privately owned bridges at such price and upon such terms as may seem reasonable to the board.

Miss. Code Ann. § 65-21-13 Damages for taking private bridges.

In event the board of supervisors and the owners of such bridges cannot agree upon the price to be paid therefor, then the board of supervisors may condemn such bridge as a necessary part of the public road or highway of which said bridge connects and forms a part, and the amount to be paid for such bridge by the county shall be ascertained and determined in the manner now provided by law for the owners of land obtaining compensation for land taken for a public county road. All proceedings of the board of supervisors in assessing the amount to be paid the owners of such bridges may be reviewed by the circuit court; and the owner of such bridge so condemned by the county may appeal from the action of the board to the circuit court, where all questions of damages may be tried anew in the same respect as provided by law for appeals from action of the board of supervisors in assessing damages to the owners of land where land is taken for public county roads.

Miss. Code Ann. § 65-21-15 Purchase of toll bridge for free operation.

The board of supervisors of one or more counties, acting individually or jointly by agreement with the private owner or owners, may purchase and maintain toll-free one or more toll bridges in one or more counties. However, this section and 65-21-17 shall not apply to any interstate bridge, nor the bridge across the Pascagoula River at Pascagoula, Mississippi, nor to any bridge on any designated state highway maintained in whole or in part by the state highway department.

Miss. Code Ann. § 65-21-17 Bonds to maintain toll-free bridge.

For the purpose of carrying out the provisions of Section 65-21-15, the board or boards of supervisors may, in the same manner as set forth in said section, declare it to be their intention to issue bonds not earlier than thirty days and publish the same, stating the amount of contemplated bond issue, in any legal newspaper in the county or counties involved as provided by law. If twenty per cent of the qualified electors petition the board or boards of supervisors for an election to determine said bond issue, the board or boards of supervisors shall order an election not later than thirty days from the date the petition was presented, and a majority of the qualified electors voting shall decide the bond issue. If one or more of the counties voting should, by a majority vote of the qualified electors voting, decide against said bond issue, the part voting against the bond issue shall not issue said bonds; but if one or more of the counties voting at the same time or some other time vote favorably by a majority of the qualified electors voting for a bond issue, as provided in this section, then the board or boards of supervisors of the county or counties so voting may issue the designated bonds for the purpose of purchasing only the designated bridge or bridges.

Miss. Code Ann. § 65-21-19 Bridges connecting districts.

When a bridge over any stream or other water will connect two or more districts in any county and the districts so connected shall desire to join in defraying the costs and expenses incident to the building and construction of said bridge, or if only one of said districts shall desire to defray said costs and expenses, it shall be the duty of the board of supervisors of such county, upon petition of twenty percent (20%) of the qualified electors of said districts or, in the case last mentioned, of the district, to order an election to be held on a day to be fixed by it, submitting to the qualified electors of the districts or the district affected, as the case may be, the proposal of said board of supervisors to issue bonds for said purpose against all the taxable property in said districts or district, as the case may be. Said board shall give notice of such election to issue such bonds by publication in a newspaper having a general circulation in said county for three consecutive weeks, which said election shall be held, conducted, and certified as required by law for the holding of general elections, so far as applicable. The tickets to be used in said election shall have printed thereon the purposes for and the amount of said proposed bond issue, after which shall be printed thereon “for the issuance of the bonds” and below that thereon “against the issuance of the bonds.”

Miss. Code Ann. § 65-21-21 Bond issue for bridges connecting districts.

Should the result of such election show that it has carried in favor of the issuance of bonds by a majority vote in each district or in the one district, as the case may be, then it shall be the duty of the board of supervisors to issue the bonds of such districts or district affected thereby, as the case may be, for the purpose aforesaid in any amount which, with other outstanding district road or bridge bonds, will not exceed fifteen percent (15%) of the assessed valuation of said districts or district affected thereby, as the case may be.

Miss. Code Ann. § 65-21-23 Bridges over rivers at county boundaries.

When a bridge shall be necessary over a stream or any other body of water which divides one county from another, or a bridge over a river or any other body of water flowing from one county into another shall be necessary at the intersection of the river and the line between the counties, (or necessary to two or more counties and within five miles of each of said counties), the boards of supervisors of all interested counties to which it may be necessary may join in the agreement for building, repairing, and keeping the same. The charge therefor shall be defrayed by all such interested counties as may be agreed upon by the boards of all of said counties; and if the board of supervisors of one county refuses to join in the agreement, the other county or counties may construct the bridge, with the consent of the board of supervisors of the county refusing or failing to join, and have exclusive control of it and charge toll thereon against citizens of the county not joining in the building. The will of the several boards of supervisors hereunder shall be expressed by a resolution duly adopted, entered on the minutes, and published in a newspaper in the county, if there be one; if there be no newspaper in the county, then in a newspaper in an adjoining county, for three weeks before such resolution shall take effect.

Miss. Code Ann. § 65-21-25 Bridges at intersection of river flowing from one county to another.

A bridge built at the intersection of a river flowing from one county into another shall be built at the nearest available site to said intersection. A municipality which, in the judgment of its governing authorities, will be benefited by the construction of such bridge may join such county, or either of them, in building such bridge and keeping and maintaining same upon such terms as may be mutually agreed upon.

Miss. Code Ann. § 65-21-27 Bridges within municipalities.

In case any public highway of any county in the state shall cross any river or stream on such highway within the boundaries of any municipality, in whole or in part, and it shall be deemed by the board of supervisors to be to the interest of the public that a free or toll bridge be constructed across such stream at the expense and under jurisdiction of the county, and the municipal authorities of such municipality shall by ordinance express a willingness that such bridge be constructed and maintained at the expense of the county, the board of supervisors are hereby authorized and empowered to establish, construct, and maintain such bridge either as a free or toll bridge, as in case of other bridges of the county and to the full extent as now authorized by law in such cases.

Miss. Code Ann. § 65-21-29 Supervisors to finance municipal bridges.

For the purpose of the construction and operation of the bridges mentioned in Section 65-21-27, the board of supervisors of the county, in the construction and management of same shall be vested with all the powers and authority provided by law for bridging streams of the county, including the levy of taxes and the issuance of bonds.

Miss. Code Ann. § 65-21-31 Written directive from Department of Transportation to close bridge under jurisdiction of political subdivision or municipality to prevent loss of federal transportation funding to state; retention of jurisdiction by political subdivision or municipality; duration of bridge closure; failure of political subdivision or municipality to comply with directive.

When any governing board of a political subdivision of the state or the governing board of a municipality must physically close a bridge or bridges under its jurisdiction in order for the state, a political subdivision of the state and/or a municipality of the state to receive or continue to receive federal transportation funding, the Mississippi Department of Transportation shall direct by written notice such governing board to physically close the bridge or bridges within sixty (60) days of the receipt of such notice. The governing board shall retain jurisdiction of such bridge or bridges and is responsible for all costs associated with the closed bridge or bridges, including closure and maintenance costs. Any such bridge or bridges shall remain closed until the bridge is able to be reopened in a condition that does not reduce the amount that the state, a political subdivision of the state and/or a municipality of the state shall receive or continue to receive in federal transportation funding. Any political subdivision of the state or municipality of the state whose governing board fails to comply with the directive provided under this section shall not be eligible for funding provided under Section 27-67-35 and shall remain ineligible until the governing board is in compliance with such directive.

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