South Lamar Bridge over Highway 6 to close May 26

Drivers who use South Lamar Boulevard to cross Highway 6 should expect another major disruption on May 26, when the South Lamar Bridge closes and pushes more traffic onto a corridor that has already been under pressure for months. The closure will affect commuters moving between downtown Oxford, south Oxford neighborhoods, Highway 6 and the commercial areas that line the route.

City notices posted May 18 showed South Lamar already reduced to one lane immediately north of Tanner Drive as Talbot Brothers Construction continued work tied to the Mississippi Department of Transportation project to align South Lamar and County Road 401. That same stretch has been changing in pieces, not all at once, making South Lamar one of Oxford’s most closely watched traffic corridors.

Near 208 South Lamar, the city said structural concerns forced it to close the sidewalk and on-street parking, shift two-way traffic east for safety and close Harrison Avenue west of South Lamar to all traffic. Those restrictions sit only a short distance from the bridge over Highway 6, so the latest closure will add to a chain of lane changes, sidewalk closures and access limits already affecting everyday travel through the area.

The South Lamar shutdown also fits into a longer construction timeline that shows no quick return to normal traffic. City notices said Baptist Hospital was preparing to begin roundabout construction at South Lamar and Belk Boulevard, with Chancellor Brothers Construction Company as contractor and a 210-day contract time, with completion targeted for about Oct. 15. That project, along with the MDOT work at South Lamar and County Road 401, suggests the corridor will remain unsettled well beyond the bridge closure date.

Oxford has seen repeated temporary South Lamar closures and detours before, for tree removal, paving, road repairs and utility work, but the current sequence carries a heavier weight because it reaches into so many daily routes at once. The May 26 bridge closure is not just another traffic notice. It is the next turn in a broader rebuild of how one of Lafayette County’s main connectors moves cars, trucks and school traffic through Oxford.