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Jefferson Barracks Bridge will be back in service Friday morning

The southbound Jefferson Barracks Bridge carrying Interstate 255 over the Mississippi River will be reopen for limited use on Friday morning.

The bridge closed on Sunday after a routine inspection found a six-foot crack under the weld of a critical portion of the bridge’s structure.

Further inspections have found similar cracks in other comparable locations of the southbound bridge, but none of them are as severe as the initial crack found on Sunday, an announcement by the Illinois Department of Transportation said.

Test results from analysis of this crack indicate the needed repairs to the bridge can be completed under traffic but are weather dependent. Crews will reopen the bridge at 5 a.m. Friday, May 17; however, lane restrictions will be needed for the work to be completed safely.

Currently, MoDOT anticipates being able maintain two open lanes westbound between 5 a.m. and 10 a.m. weekdays, with at least one lane open the remainder of the time during repairs. Additionally, all oversize and overweight loads will be prohibited from using the structure. Personnel from IDOT and MoDOT as well as two private companies will continue to work on the bridge to make all needed repairs to restore the facility to full capacity.

Even with this partial reopening, motorists are encouraged to utilize all available bridges accessing Missouri and consider all other travel options. Traffic backups should be expected – as these restrictions will remain in place for the duration of needed repairs.

Updates on the impacts to traffic are available at http://stl-traffic.org.

For IDOT District 8 updates on Twitter, follow http://twitter.com/IDOTDistrict8.

 

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