VERO BEACH — As a retired Connecticut toll collector, Vicki Bradley knows traffic congestion. So the extra half-hour she spent in Indian River Boulevard traffic April 13, trying to get to Riverside Park, was something she took in stride.
“I knew it was coming,” said Bradley, as she walked with her grandson, Logan, 3, and dogs Hawkeye and Rosie. “It is something they have to do.”
Monday, April 13, was the first full day the 17th Street Bridge across the Indian River Lagoon was closed for continuing repairs. The 47-year-old span closed in both directions at 10:30 the night before and is to remain shut down until 5 a.m. April 17.
Workers are sealing and restriping the bridge — also known as the Alma Lee Loy Bridge — as part of a $22.3 million rehabilitation and improvement project, led and funded by the Florida Department of Transportation.
The estimated 22,000 vehicles that cross the bridge daily are being detoured over the Merrill P. Barber Bridge, where an estimated 23,500 vehicles already travel daily.
City officials have asked drivers to pack patience when driving in the area, and to allow extra time.
Finding alternative routes to avoid Indian River Boulevard if possible also is advised, officials said.
Bradley and her group drove across the Barber Bridge to get to Riverside Park.
Northbound Indian River Boulevard traffic in the busy morning commute, between 8 and 9 a.m., was backed up from just north of 12th Street to the Barber Bridge.
“There’s nothing to do (about it),” said Mayor John Cotugno, who received periodic traffic reports from his wife as she detoured from their Central Beach home to play tennis on the mainland.
“She said it’s not too bad,” Cotugno said. “She planned for extra time.”
Although, he said, the traffic backed up on Indian River Boulevard might take more time on the way back home. There are no other options to get to the mainland but to use the Barber Bridge if you live on the barrier island, he said.
People working on the barrier island also had to make adjustments.
Oscar Sales, marketing director for Riverside Theatre, just over the Barber Bridge, said it took him 45 minutes to get to work on Monday.
“It reminded me of the time it took me to get to work when I lived in New York,” Sales said in an email. Sales said he spent his extra-long Monday-morning commute listening to the “This Week on Broadway” podcast.
Colleen Wixon is the Indian River County government watchdog reporter for TCPalm and Treasure Coast Newspapers.
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Florida bridge closure means extra time in traffic for Monday drivers
Reporting by Colleen Wixon, Treasure Coast Newspapers / Treasure Coast Newspapers
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