Southbound bridge traffic to shift over on Tuesday

February 12, 2013, 10:00 am by From Staff Reports

All four lanes of traffic across the US 281 bridge will move to the recently constructed new bridge starting Tuesday night.

The two southbound lanes on the old bridge will be transitioned to the new bridge – where the northbound lanes currently run – beginning at 6 p.m. on Feb. 12, and should be completed by Wednesday morning, officials said. The switch had been planned to begin Monday evening, but weather delayed construction work by a day.

Construction crews will then begin to demolish the old bridge before constructing a new one in its place toward the end of March.

On the new bridge, the four lanes will be one foot narrower than the current 12-foot wide lanes. The tighter quarters might cause some drivers to slow down as they cross the bridge, officials said.

All traffic will remain on the new bridge until fall of 2014, when the bridge project is expected to be complete.