The contractor working on the $98 million project to replace the Broadway Bridge over the Arkansas River between Little Rock and North Little Rock has started building the new bridge structure.
Motorists and other passersby on the existing Broadway Bridge can see just upstream the large sections of steel that will be used for the new bridge's double arches. They have been painted and are being placed on trusses situated on barges moored on the north bank of the Arkansas River.
The steel is still being shipped to a work site on the north side of the river, across from the Clinton Presidential Library, to be painted before they are floated to the staging barges moored near the existing bridge, said Danny Straessle, a spokesman for the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department. The steel pieces are crafted elsewhere.
"Slowly, as the steel continues to arrive, they are starting to put things together," he said. "The two arches will be complete before they lift them into place."
May originally was the month the old bridge was scheduled to be closed to traffic for up to six months and demolished, after which much of the new bridge structure was supposed to be floated into its place.
But heavy rains and flooding caused the river to exceed flood stage twice last year. That and construction complications forced the removal of the old bridge to be delayed.
The prefabricated steel also hasn't arrived as quickly as scheduled.
The department announced in March that the old bridge wouldn't be removed on schedule. That hasn't changed, Straessle said.
"As we stated in the news conference, it could be as early as this fall or as late as this time next year," he said.
The current bridge opened to traffic in 1923. Work to replace the bridge, which is on U.S. 70, began in 2011 after the department determined that all three of its components -- the superstructure, substructure and deck -- were rated as structurally deficient.
While state highway officials say the 93-year-old bridge remains safe for the 25,000 vehicles that use it every day, the bridge has been increasingly costly to maintain, making replacing it a more cost-effective option.
As part of the project, Pulaski County has committed $20 million to incorporate two basket-handle arches into the design, instead of just one arch, as the Highway Department had proposed. That money will be paid over several years.
Metro on 05/23/2016