After being closed for more than two years, the section of North Jackson Street north of Palmer Street and south of The Clubs at Ole Brook is expected to reopen by Friday.

The road was closed in March 2022 to replace the old bridge, which was seeing daily traffic over its posted weight limits. Those limits had also been lowered by the City in 2020 to correspond with the age of the bridge.

Environmental studies and extensive rerouting of utilities had to take place before the bridge itself could be replaced. Contractors completed all the bridge work in recent weeks, in addition to necessary paving connecting the roadway to the bridge surface.

“They still have to do some striping, and a few other things,” said engineer Ryan Holmes. “But we’re hoping to have it open to through-traffic by Friday.”

The Board of Aldermen approved a final pay request Tuesday to Beacon Construction for the bridge project in the amount of $129,196.23.

“What are we going to do to keep 18-wheelers from coming down that road?” Alderman-at-large Don Underwood asked Holmes.

The engineer said by now the Mississippi Department of Transportation should have updated information with mapping services to change routes tractor-trailer trucks would get from their GPS services. Holmes also said he hoped the two-plus years of rerouting would continue for companies who routinely come into Brookhaven via Hwy. 51. Many GPS routes previously guided trucks to turn off Hwy. 51 onto North Jackson Street at Country Club Road, then travel south to Industrial Park Road. Current mapping should guide those vehicles south on Hwy. 51 to Industrial Park Road itself, rather than suggest North Jackson as a shortcut.

Holmes said he would check with MDOT to request signs on Hwy. 51 barring tractor-trailers from taking the North Jackson Street route, and the City could erect signs as needed on municipal roadways.

“We’ll work on solutions if we have problems,” he said.