Skip to main content

Natchez-Vidalia Bridge (Natchez, MS)

 

Located about halfway between Baton Rouge and Vicksburg near the city of Natchez, the Natchez-Vidalia Bridge crosses the lower Mississippi River between southwest Mississippi and northeastern Louisiana at the city of Vidalia. This river crossing is a dual span, which creates an interesting visual effect that is atypical on the Mississippi River in general.

Construction on the original bridge took place in the late 1930s in conjunction with a much larger parallel effort by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to strengthen the area’s flood protection and levee system along the Mississippi River. One of the more ambitious aspects of this plan was to relocate the city of Vidalia to a location of higher ground about one mile downriver from the original settlement. The redirection of the river through the Natchez Gorge (which necessitated the relocation of the town) and the reconstruction of the river’s levee system in the area were undertaken in the aftermath of the Great Flood of 1927, which devastated communities and farmland all throughout the Mississippi Delta region. In response to this disaster, the federal government passed the Flood Control Act of 1928, which gave absolute power to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to design and maintain a flood protection & levee system for the Mississippi River. The elimination of a prominent oxbow bend in the river across from the Natchez Gorge and the associated relocation of the city of Vidalia was one of the largest projects undertaken by the Corps in the 1930s as part of the larger risk-reduction effort along the lower Mississippi River.


The dual spans of the Natchez-Vidalia Bridge reflect 50 years of engineering progress in design and construction of bridges along the lower Mississippi River.

The new bridge connected the new city of Vidalia with the old river town of Natchez when it opened in 1940. Over the years, the bridge became important as a linchpin in the region’s US Highway system, even in the years following the creation of the interstate highway system and the original bridge’s narrow roadway (its travel lanes were reported to be as narrow as 8 ft and the bridge’s roadways lacked shoulders or other safety measures). Traffic demands in the area warranted the construction of a parallel span, which opened to traffic in 1988. Under the current configuration, westbound traffic crosses on the original 1940 bridge while eastbound traffic crosses on the new bridge. The parallel span was built wider than its predecessor and features modern shoulders and standard-width travel lanes. Both spans were built to similar proportions and appear to be identical on first glance. Each structure is about 4,200 ft long from abutment to abutment and they feature steel truss superstructures over ½ mile in length. The four cantilever bridge towers are the focal points that support the three longest spans of the superstructure, each about 850 ft long. The roadways stand upwards of 125 ft above mean river level, making them the tallest bridges in the state of Mississippi.

This bridge is located near a significant crossroads of the US highway system, one of the more robust such locations in the deep south. When the first span of the bridge opened in 1940, it was part of US Highways 65 and 84 and these two highways have been most closely associated with the bridge over the years. As of 2024, the bridge carries US Highways 84 and 425 and is located near prominent intersections with US Highways 61, 65, and 98. US 65 crossed the Mississippi River on this bridge until 2005 when its southern terminus was relocated to Clayton, LA. At around the same time, US 425 was extended eastward over the Mississippi River to end at US 61 in Natchez. US 98 begins at US 61 on the north side of Natchez, a short distance from the eastern bridge approach.

The following photos from my February 2023 visit to the Natchez-Vidalia Bridge showcase various vantage points from the Mississippi Riverfront in Vidalia, LA. Click on each photo to see a larger version.

The following photos from my February 2023 visit to the Natchez-Vidalia Bridge showcase the westbound crossing of the bridge from Natchez, MS to Vidalia, LA. Click on each photo to see a larger version.

The following photos from my February 2023 visit to the Natchez-Vidalia Bridge showcase the eastbound crossing of the bridge from Vidalia, LA to Natchez, MS. Click on each photo to see a larger version.

The following aerial photos from my February 2023 visit to the Natchez-Vidalia Bridge showcase various views of the bridge and its surroundings along the Mississippi River. Click on each photo to see a larger version.

Dashcam video of the westbound drive over the Natchez-Vidalia Bridge was filmed in February 2023 for the 'roadwaywiz' YouTube channel and is available for viewing at the link below:

Dashcam video of the eastbound drive over the Natchez-Vidalia Bridge was filmed in February 2023 for the 'roadwaywiz' YouTube channel and is available for viewing at the link below:

The Natchez-Vidalia Bridge was featured in the "Bridges of the Lower Mississippi River" webinar on the 'roadwaywiz' YouTube channel, beginning at the 1:16:18 mark:

How To Get There:

Further Reading:
Natchez-Vidalia Bridge by John Weeks
Natchez-Vidalia Bridge at historicbridges.org

Bridges, Crossings, and Structures of the Lower Mississippi River
Next Crossing upriver: Vicksburg Bridge (Vicksburg, MS)
Next Crossing downriver: John James Audubon Bridge (New Roads, LA)
Nearby Flood Control Structure: Old River Control Structure (Lettsworth, LA)
Return to the Bridges of the Lower Mississippi River Home Page
__________________________________________________

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

I-40 rockslide uncovers old debates on highway

The Asheville Citizen-Times continues to do a great job covering all the angles of the Interstate 40 Haywood County rock slide. An article in Sunday's edition provides a strong historical perspective on how the Pigeon River routing of Interstate 40 came about. And perhaps most strikingly, in an article that ran just prior to the highway's opening in the fall of 1968, how engineers from both Tennessee and North Carolina warned "...that slides would probably be a major problem along the route for many years." On February 12, 1969, not long after the Interstate opened, the first rock slide that would close I-40 occurred. Like many other Interstates within North Carolina, Interstate 40 through the mountains has a history prior to formation of the Interstate Highway System and was also a heated political battle between local communities. The discussion for a road that would eventually become Interstate 40 dates back to the 1940's as the idea for interregional high

Former California State Route 41 past Bates Station

When California State Route 41 was commissioned during August 1934 it was aligned along the then existing Fresno-Yosemite Road north of the San Joaquin River.  Within the Sierra Nevada foothills of Madera County, the original highway alignment ran past Bates Station via what is now Madera County Road 209, part of eastern Road 406 and Road 207.   Bates Station was a stage station plotted during the early 1880s at what was the intersection of the Coarsegold Road and Stockton-Los Angeles Road.   The modern alignment bypassing Bates Station to the east would be reopened to traffic during late 1939.   Part 1; the history of California State Route 41 past Bates Station Bates Station was featured as one of the many 1875-1899 Madera County era towns in the May 21, 1968, Madera Tribune .  Post Office Service at Bates Station is noted to have been established on November 23, 1883 and ran continuously until October 31, 1903.  The postal name was sourced from Bates Station owner/operator George Ba

Interstate 210 the Foothill Freeway

The combined Interstate 210/California State Route 210 corridor of the Foothill Freeway is approximately 85.31-miles.  The Interstate 210/California State Route 210 corridor begins at Interstate 5 at the northern outskirts of Los Angeles and travels east to Interstate 10 in Redlands of San Bernardino County.  Interstate 210 is presently signed on the 44.9-mile segment of the Foothill Freeway between Interstate 5 and California State Route 57.  California State Route 210 makes up the remaining 40.41 miles of the Foothill Freeway east to Interstate 10.  Interstate 210 is still classified by the Federal Highway Administration as existing on what is now signed as California State Route 57 from San Dimas south to Interstate 10.  The focus of this blog will mostly be on the history of Interstate 210 segment of the Foothill Freeway.   Part 1; the history of Interstate 210 and California State Route 210 Interstate 210 (I-210) was approved as a chargeable Interstate during September of