Departments of transportation around the country have been dealing with flooded and washed out roads over the past week, including in Mississippi, Texas and California.
A highway in New County, Mississippi, was completely washed out from flooding August 24, causing a truck to fall into a damaged section that was 100 feet wide and 15 feet deep. Mississippi DOT crews were able to start emergency repairs August 26. The DOT had 1,000 tons of crushed stone hauled to the site along with 100 feet of heavy-duty pipe. Once conditions were dry enough, crews installed a new drainage culvert and filled in the washed out area. Asphalt will be applied after two weeks of traffic driving over the crushed stone.
“I applaud our district maintenance crews for taking swift action to make these critical repairs to SR 489 in Newton County so that we can reopen this roadway as quickly as possible,” said Central Transportation Commissioner Willie Simmons. “This was a significant flood event and I am proud of our crews for stepping up and getting central Mississippi roadways cleared, repaired and opened back up as soon as possible.”
The state, however, was preparing for more flooding Monday. Residents in Jackson were evacuating ahead of a rising Pearl River that was expected to crest that morning and flood streets and homes.
Check out this MDOT video below of the repair work on SR 489:
A section of Interstate 10 near the Arizona-California border washed out August 25 from flash flooding. Crews for Caltrans District 8 reported they were working around the clock over the weekend to repair the washed-out eastbound lanes. The highway was fully reopened August 28 after being closed for four days.
Interstate 10 at the California-Arizona border washed out during last week's monsoon.Caltrans
