12th Street bridge closed … again

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The 12th Street bridge is closed once again. The city closed off the portal to the West Bottoms yesterday and expects the closure to last at least three days.

Why is it closed? An “expansion joint” failed, which “caused concrete to fall through the deck onto the hillside below, but there was no damage or injuries reported.”

That doesn’t sound good. But that’s not all. 

Public Works staff has inspected the remaining expansion joints for the portion of the bridge that has been under traffic and found several additional areas requiring attention. Repair crews plan to remove the existing damaged expansion joints and place steel plates over them to allow safe passage of traffic.

More steel plates!

In May, the bridge was down to two, metal plate-covered lanes and later totally closed off due to “structural deficiencies” and extensive deterioration.”

In February, C.J. wrote about the bridge’s money-sucking ways.

When we get word that the bridge has reopened, we’ll let you know.