Within this report, PEER collected route information from the eleven Mississippi public school districts that have more than ten deficient bridges within their district boundaries to determine to what extent deficient bridges (i. e., bridges that are closed to all vehicles or posted for vehicle weight limits that would apply to school buses) affect each district’s respective transportation system.
Four of the eleven school districts PEER selected for review reported that they are currently rerouting school buses as a direct result of deficient bridges. PEER’s estimates of current detour costs accounted for two percent or less of these respective school districts’ total transportation expenditures for School Year 2013-2014.
During the course of this review, PEER identified instances in which some school bus routes in the districts selected for review utilized bridges posted for weight limits that would apply to school buses. The potential for buses traveling across these posted bridges creates safety concerns for the passengers and increases wear and tear on deficient bridges. Also, the process for notifying school districts of deficient bridges and the training of school district transportation personnel related to deficient bridges needed improvement.
This report makes a solid case for more long term infrastructure funding, because of public safety concerns that will continue to grow as more school bus reroutes are applied, due to the high volume of deficient bridges with the state.
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