TOLEDO, Ohio — After a reckless driver crashed through the gates of the Craig Memorial Bridge, the bridge has remained closed "indefinitely."
Kelsie Hoagland, the spokesperson with the Ohio Department of Transportation, said they are currently waiting on parts to repair the damage.
She said until repairs are done and the damaged parts of the electrical structure are replaced, the bridge will remain closed to vehicular traffic.
"We're expecting to receive that (part) by the end of this week, and then our electrical company contracting partners can help come out and start implementing those fixes," Hoagland said. "That way they can start troubleshooting and testing if the gates are operating properly."
Just south of the Craig Memorial Bridge is the MLK Bridge, which began construction Wednesday on a walking path that will connect the east side to downtown Toledo.
According to the city of Toledo, due to the bridge's location and because it's a drawbridge, the construction is expected to take longer than usual.
"Because it's a movable bridge, it's going to be kind of a slow process which is why it's going to take into September of next year," Jeremy Mikolajczyk, road and bridge maintenance commissioner for the city said. "We will have to follow guidelines from the Coast Guard and keep that channel open for shipping traffic. So it's going to take us a little bit longer to get this project done."
While the length of construction is not ideal, Mikolajcyzk said the plan is expected to benefit the downtown area.
"The benefit of this construction is we're going to add a multi-use path that will connect the downtown area with the east side area. It will make it easier for pedestrians to have their own separate lane," Mikolajcyzk said. "We're also going to do a few upgrades to the bridge itself to make it operate a little bit more streamlined."
Despite the closures, city officials and ODOT said they're working to keep lanes open on the MLK bridge, and Mikolajcyzk said he doesn't expect the bridge to fully close for a while.
"We don't anticipate it to be completely closed just yet because they're working on what we call the upstream side to put in a multiuse path, so there really is no need to close the entire bridge," Mikolajczyk said."
Despite the inconvenience to locals and law enforcement, both ODOT and the city of Toledo told WTOL 11 they will do their best to provide detours with the goal of efficiency on the road.
"There will be detours available, but we are also going to do our best to keep the lanes open so people still can travel back and forth across the bridge," said Mikolajcyzk.
ODOT said there is still a lot of testing their crews need to accomplish before they reopen the bridge to traffic and pedestrians.
"We know that this is an inconvenience for the local traffic and of course, we even have our local law enforcement partners who are very nearby in the downtown side, so we know this a challenge and we do definitely feel that for the public," Hoagland said. "But this was one of those unforeseen circumstances. There will be a lot of testing that does have to happen before we are able to restore it to vehicular traffic."
Mikolajcyzk said construction on the MLK bridge is not estimated to be done until September 2025.