The Fourth Avenue Bridge was closed on Wednesday for a few hours to allow crews to repair the bridge and it will likely be closed for a few hours again on Thursday.
“We are experiencing a lot of water freezing overnight and the ice we’re dealing with (is) plugging up the drains that are on the bridge,” said public works manager Duane Grado. “There are I’m going to guess about a dozen drains on the bridge and they’re blocked. So we have to clear those out so the water falls through under the bridge so that it releases water.”
He said the bridge was closed on Wednesday for repairs, but would be back in order by the weekend. He said in order to clear the ice crews have to use lighter equipment because of the weight restriction on the bridge.
“We’re making our first attempt at clearing the ice,” said Grado. “The main thing right now (is) getting that ice off of there because it’s very inconvenient and the water is being blocked … The other thing we’re experiencing desperately is the potholes.”
He said the ice is being sheared off with a loader with a “good solid blade on it” and a boiler was thawing things out on Wednesday. After the ice is sheared off crews will patch the potholes. He estimated there are easily 100 potholes on the bridge.
For more information, see Thursday's edition of the Times-Herald.
