Lane closing Wednesday for Bladen County bridge work

ELIZABETHTOWN, NC (WWAY) — The U.S. 701 bridge over the Cape Fear River will be reduced to one lane for most of Wednesday.

The temporary lane reduction, which will require flagging operations on the two-lane bridge, is necessary for workers to detach the river gauge from the old bridge and re-install it onto the new bridge. The gauge is used by state and federal agencies to monitor the river level.

Drivers can expect the one-lane pattern to be in place from 9:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. on May 31st. Drivers should expect delays in each travel direction to be about 15 minutes, and drivers should be cautious traveling through the work zone.

An N.C. Department of Transportation contractor is constructing the new bridge alongside the old one. Traffic was recently shifted from the old bridge to the new one, so that the old structure can be demolished.

When completed next spring, the new bridge will have four lanes.