UPDATE: Drainage grate repairs close lanes on Causeway again

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Last night an emergency repair on the Causeway Project left some drivers stuck in traffic in both Wilmington and Leland.

Today we spoke with Wanda James, an engineer with the NCDOT. She said there was a drainage grate that was in need of emergency repairs. According to James, the grate cracked on Saturday. Crews worked on the grate and believed they had fixed the problem that same day. However yesterday the grate started coming up again. James said a steel plate has now been bolted to the drainage structure, but that is just a temporary fix. James said rain was not a factor in the problem yesterday.

The left westbound lane was closed again today during the lunch hour and into the afternoon, causing more backups. The DOT has yet to send a formal news release about yesterday or today’s work.

When we spoke to James prior to today’s closure, she that the reason the DOT did not send out notification to the media of the problem last night was because they were not sure whether the lanes would be closed for a short time or a long time. The priority was getting the lanes closed and keeping drivers safe. All DOT departments were notified of the situation in case they received calls.

James said they had not anticipated problems with the bridge, but have been working closely with the contractor to make sure the problem does not happen again on this or any other project.

She adds that it is critical that they keep lanes on the Causeway open, especially during rush hours, and that they would not have closed them unless they absolutely needed to.

Brian Rick with NCDOT said there was a breakdown in communication last night and that contributed to the word not getting out to drivers. He said they are working to improve communication for emergency situations in the future to get notice out to drivers.