Harrods Creek Bridge Re-Opens

As of Monday, drivers can once again cross the Harrods Creek Bridge in eastern Jefferson County. But while the bridge is open to traffic, but construction isn't yet complete.The bridge was closed in 2008 after state inspectors deemed it unsafe. Metro Government planned to rebuild and widen the one-lane span, but the preservation group River Fields filed suit. They sought to protect the bridge as a historic structure.The lawsuits were eventually dropped, but Mayor Jerry Abramson says the litigation delayed the project significantly."We didn't get to start again until, I want to say, September of 09. So we're about a year, a year to eight months behind where we had expected to be, but we had to work through the lawsuits."Minor repairs on the bridge will continue for the next few weeks."There's still a water line that needs to be put in on the side of the bridge," says Abramson. "From time to time during the non-peak hours there may be some disruption of the traffic in the sense that we go from two lanes to one lane while they're putting in the water pipe."The bridge is open, but one lane will be closed during off-peak hours for the next few weeks as crews install a water pipe. The bridge repairs cost about $3 million. $2 million will be paid by the state and federal governments.