ANNAPOLIS (AP) — Repairs to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge will take about six months longer than planned, leading to nighttime lane closures through the fall of 2009, the Maryland Transit Authority reports.
The delay is a result of the authority’s change in plans for replacing the deck on the westbound span.
Geoffrey Kolberg, the authority’s chief engineer, told the Baltimore Sun that contractors advised the slower pace.
The earlier plan, to be finished in the spring of 2009, called for more precise measurements and would have cost roughly $60 million. Mr. Kolberg said the new plan would cost more, but contractors have yet to determine how much.
Changes to the plan affect the redecking of the “through-truss” segment of the bridge. The section is east of the highest part of the bridge and closer to Kent Island.
The authority had planned to remove the old concrete slabs and replace them with prefabricated, permanent replacement sections on the same night. The new plan calls for the old slabs to be replaced with a temporary deck section over one night and for the temporary section to be replaced by the permanent section on a single night later in the project.
Mr. Kolberg said the revised plan gives the contractors more time to do precise measurements.
Authority spokeswoman Cheryl Sparks said officials have yet to decide whether to suspend work in the summer months, when traffic on the bridge is heaviest.
Mr. Kolberg also said the second phase will begin in September and require closing the westbound span from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. on some weekday nights. Traffic on those nights will travel on the two-lane eastbound span.
“As far as the driving public, they won’t see any difference,” he said.
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