Florida Department of Transportation divers are underwater now trying to figure out what’s wrong with the Flagler Memorial Bridge.
Top officials with the DOT attended the Town Council meeting to address the closure of the north bridge.
Regional DOT Secretary James Wolfe said the problem is with the span locks causing a problem with the bridge opening and closing. “They wouldn’t lock. We were not able to close the bridge. We’ve had this problem before.”
There’s also a problem with the bridge’s concrete pile caps, which sit on the foundations and carry the weight of the bridge. One of the pile caps has settled 7/16th of an inch, well outside the settling expected.
Repairing the movable spans will mean the bridge must remain closed at least three or four days. Beyond that, he’s awaiting more information about what caused the settling to assess when the bridge might re-open.
“We don’t know yet if we have structural issues,” he said. “We need to assess the condition of the bridge, why it settled and find out its condition so we can devise a fix. We’re still figuring out what’s going on, but our goal is to reopen as quickly as we can.”
Public Safety Director Kirk Blouin said the U.S. Coast Guard will keep the Royal Park Bridge down from 8:16 to 10:14 a.m. and 4:16 p.m. to 6:14 p.m. and on the Southern Boulevard Bridge from 8:31 to 10 a.m. and 4:30 to 5:59 p.m. starting today.
