The initial attempt to reduce the traffic load by closing lanes resulted in heavy congestion, so ODOT decided to reroute heavy trucks and buses to different highways. ODOT's Jocelyn Clemmings says it seems to be working.
CLEMMINGS: We have devices that are in the pavement, actually, and that will tell us exactly which types of truck are passing at exactly what minute, so that we can tell how many trucks are on the structure at any given time. And what we found is that only about 1% of the average daily truck traffic is using the bridge, right now. So, our engineers thought that was a fairly safe number.
But, that still leaves a closed lane in each direction. Clemmings says the bridge is in such a bad state of repair that it's unlikely the remaining lanes will reopen without a major repair or replacement of the structure. That's been a particular concern of residents in Cleveland's Tremont neighborhood who complain that the closing has severely restricted access to their community.
