Prince George-Charles City bridge to be closed Monday
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By Staff Reports
Published: November 22, 2008
The Benjamin Harrison Memorial Bridge will be closed again from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday while engineers fine-tune the balance of its lift span.
The bridge carries state routes 106 and 156 across the James River between Prince George and Charles City counties.
The drawbridge's movable section had been jamming, forcing its closure Tuesday and last Saturday.
Highway traffic will have to detour 28 miles around the bridge over the James River near Hopewell so inspectors can test the rebalanced counterweight system, the Virginia Department of Transportation said.
The bridge will remain open for maritime traffic during the testing.
"The bridge is operational, but it's operating a little rough. We've got to do a little bit of tweaking to it," said VDOT's Gary Martin, the Richmond District bridge engineer. "We have to add a little more weight to each end."
The problem first occurred Saturday when the lift span was raised to allow a vessel to pass.
The Benjamin Harrison is a type of drawbridge called a vertical-lift bridge. Balanced by counterweights, the span's 360-foot-long deck is raised by motor-driven cables mounted on the structure's towers.
-- Peter Bacqué
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