PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) – We continue to cover progress on necessary repairs to fully reopen the South Norfolk Jordan Bridge to traffic.
It’s been more than 2 weeks since a fire at Wheelabrator Portsmouth damaged a conveyor belt duct above the road. After a delay, the equipment to remove parts of the damaged conveyor arrived Tuesday.
Crews say they have all the equipment they need and hope to have the road back open underneath by next week.
“We just like everyone want everything to be repaired safely and swiftly,” said South Norfolk Jordan Bridge General Manager, Kevin Crum.
WIN Waste Innovations says cranes are currently on site and being assembled so they can start to bring down the damaged pieces of the conveyor belt duct. They hope to have the road reopened next week but safety remains the priority and will lead the timeline.
Crum says 10,000 cars usually travel across the Jordan bridge each weekday, so this has affected those drivers greatly.
“We’re seeing drivers having to drive an additional 15 or 20 minutes daily and it’s really adding to their commute times and it is a frustration,” said Crum.
The businesses located between the bridge and Wheelabrator would essentially be landlocked if they were to close down, so Crum says even though it’s an inconvenience to drive around, they wanted to keep the bridge open to support them.
“If it wasn’t for Jordan being partially open we’d essentially shut their business down,” said Crum.
Crum says they’ve also been working with Wheelabrator to get their large equipment across the bridge, by expediting special permit requests, to help speed up the process.
“A lot of this equipment you’re seeing on site today was brought across the Jordan bridge so whatever we can do to support this repair we are doing that actively,” said Crum.
The City of Portsmouth will ultimately have the final say on re-opening Elm Avenue.
