JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) – If you travel along Martin Luther King Boulevard in Jackson, you may want to consider an alternate route.

P.J. Walker, the pastor of Cornerstone Missionary Baptist Church, wants the bridge near his church on MLK Boulevard to be condemned. It’s been an ongoing issue going back for nearly a decade.

“We need the City of Jackson to step up and come and do what they supposed to do,” said Walker.

The pastor said he received a phone call overnight about a large sinkhole along the bridge near his church. Not only is the age of the bridge a concern, but so is the lack of guardrails along the bridge.

“In December, Christmas Eve, a young man went off in that bridge and got killed. So, that bridge has been torn out with no guardrails on it since Christmas Eve, and another truck ran over there,” said Walker.

JXN Water sent crews to fill the hole with gravel and will investigate if a possible sewer issue needs to be repaired.

“But that’s not going to solve the problem. They say they’re going to come back Monday sometime and fix it. But someone’s going to get hurt before the Monday. So, we need the street shut down,” said Walker.

WJTV 12 News reached out to the City of Jackson about the issue, and we have not heard back.