Napier Avenue Bridge Fully Reopen, For Now

y6thggf
y6thggf

Traffic is fully open on the Napier Avenue bridge over the St. Joseph River, at least temporarily. The Berrien County Road Department tells us crews have completed the planned rehabilitation project on the bridge and two lanes in each direction are now open again. The rehabilitation work started in March. It hit a snag in April when crews doing sandblasting spotted a need for more repairs, and the bridge was closed completely for a few weeks. They eventually were able to reopen one lane of travel in each direction. The road department is still waiting on some material to add additional supports to the underside of the bridge, and that’s expected to arrive in October. At that time, the bridge will be taken back down to just one lane in each direction while the last of the work is done. For now, the bridge is back open at four lanes and safe for travel. The rehabilitation project initially was to have cost between $1.8 and $2 million. Since the April closure, the cost has come in between $2.7 and $3 million.