NATCHEZ — As the Mississippi Legislature prepares to go into a special session Thursday, area leaders say they hope lawmakers will find a swift solution to the state’s infrastructure funding crisis.

In April, the U.S. Department of Transportation forced the state to close more than 100 roads and bridges that were deemed dangerous due to ill repair and neglect.

The closures came after the Legislature ended the regular session without coming up with a funding mechanism for road and bridge maintenance and repair.

Gov. Phil Bryant announced last week a two-day special session starting Thursday for lawmakers to find adequate funding for the state’s roads and bridges. Among possibilities for funding, reportedly, are a state lottery, portions of internet sales tax revenue and a gas tax, which Bryant has said he would not consider.

Adams County currently has two bridges out, one on Hutchins Landing Road and one on Magee Road. Both Adams County bridges were closed as a result of the federal mandate.

District 1 Adams County Supervisor Mike Lazarus, in whose district the Hutchins Landing Road Bridge is, said the bridge leads to a wildlife refuge and, he believes it is past time for the Legislature to find a funding source for the state’s roads and bridges.

“They’ve been reluctant to act at all,” Lazarus said. “They need to sit down and come up with funding to pay for these bridges.”

Lazarus said the county has spent money through capital improvement bonds for the past several years to maintain the county’s roads, but the state should be helping pay for the repairs.

“We can use help from the state,” Lazarus said, “but we’ve been pretty good at keeping up the roads and bridges.”

Lazarus said Hutchins Landing Road bridge would cost an estimated $300,000 to replace. If the state comes up with funding for infrastructure, it could install a box culvert for $500,000 and it would not be an issue again.

“I can’t see spending $300,000 to patch a bridge,” Lazarus said.

As far as a funding source for the state’s roads and bridges, Lazarus said he has no favorite option.

“I’m good with whatever they come up with,” Lazarus said. “I’m not going to tell them what to do. I’m going to wait and see what they come up with.”

Calvin Butler, District 5 supervisor and Adams County Board of Supervisors president, said he thinks whatever source the Legislature comes up with to fund the maintenance is OK by him.

The Magee Road bridge is in Butler’s district and he said it has been closed since the federal mandate earlier this year. Butler said the Magee Road bridge is mostly used by a family who farms in the area of Emerald Mound and is not an impediment to most residents.

“It is not a through road,” Butler said, adding the family is not locked in, and they have an alternate route to their property.

Butler noted that Wilkinson County and some other rural counties throughout the state are in worse shape with more roads and bridge closures than Adams County.

“We’ve got to have roads and bridges,” Butler said. “It’s infrastructure. We need a fair share. We should get our fair share.”

Butler said he would favor a lottery, a gas tax and internet sales taxes. 

“I’m for the whole nine yards,” he said.

Sen. Bob Dearing, D-Natchez, said he believes it likely will take a portion of all of the options for the state to come up with an adequate funding mechanism for roads and bridges.

“It is a critical need for these rural areas,” Dearing said, noting that in some cases, people have to go 20 to 30 miles around to get to property because a bridge is out. “This special session needs to be a very, very special session. I hope we can get out of there in two days.”

Also during the special legislative session, lawmakers are expected to consider how to spend $700 million BP oil reparation money paid to the state for the 2010 Deepwater Horizon offshore oilrig explosion and oil spill that polluted the Gulf of Mexico.

Of that $700 million, the Associated Press reports that lawmakers have agreed 75 percent should go to Mississippi’s three coastal counties that were most affected by the oil spill and 25 percent, roughly $100 million, for the rest of the state.

Legislators are expected to decide how to use that 25 percent during the special session.

“The BP spill really affected the coast counties, and I think that’s where the majority of that money should go,” Dearing said, adding he was not sure whether the oil spill affected Adams County or how the remaining BP money should be used.