VERO BEACH, Fla. — The Florida Department of Transportation is delaying the planned closure this week of the Alma Lee Loy Bridge, known as the 17th Street Bridge, in Vero Beach until early September.
The bridge, which carries about 20,000 vehicles per day, was to be closed between midnight on Tuesday and 5 a.m. Thursday.
FDOT has tentative plans to reschedule this bridge closure from 12:01 a.m. Sept. 6 to 5 a.m. Sept. 8.
The agency didn't give a reason for the abrupt closure in the announcement late Monday afternoon.
Workers were to place lane separators and restripe the south side of the bridge.
Traffic was to be rerouted across the Merrill P. Barber Bridge.
Temporary fixes on the "structurally deficient" bridge because of crumbling concrete and exposed cables have been ongoing since 2020.
A $22.3 million project is planned to be completed summer 2028.
In July, FDOT presented the council with two options: an entire shutdown of the bridge for more than two and a half years or reducing traffic to one lane in each direction for more than four years.
The council voted to close the bridge only partially.
