ODOT Reporting More Problems On Belle Isle Bridge

There are more problems for the Belle Isle Bridge. ODOT said it's crumbling faster than they thought.

One hundred thousand cars travel the Interstate 44 bridge near Penn Square Mall. Last week we warned you about road work. But now ODOT told us this 37-year-old bridge has more serious issues than it expected.

4/24/2015 Related Story: ODOT Discovers Extensive Belle Isle Bridge Damage

One driver contacted News 9 and said he was worried about the bridge crumbling on top of him when he was stopped at a light under the Belle Isle Bridge. So we placed a call to ODOT.

ODOT crews were inspecting the bridge deck and piers to prepare them for new concrete. But while doing that, crews discovered that the years of water and salt took its toll. During the winter, salt crews make sure the bridge gets more salt than most. 

Crews are placing steel supports to two of the piers to keep this bridge from falling. Plans are to have those supports in place by the early part of May and then open up all lanes.

We are told there are 80 piers in all and ODOT expects more of them will need to get steel reinforcements.

So how long will these lane closures and repairs last? ODOT estimates this project should end in the early part of 2016.

The agency said there hasn't been enough state funding to keep up with regularly scheduled preventative maintenance. All of this, ODOT calls an adequate but interim fix to a serious problem to other bridges in our state.