Update: Syracuse, NY -- Motorists who use West Street will find their way blocked from time to time today and Tuesday, the state Department of Transportation says. The interruptions will give the crew building the new Erie Boulevard West bridge over West Street the time needed to set steel girders in place, said Gene Cilento, speaking for DOT. Each interruption...
Update:
Syracuse, NY -- Motorists who use West Street will find their way blocked from time to time today and Tuesday, the state Department of Transportation says.
The interruptions will give the crew building the new Erie Boulevard West bridge over West Street the time needed to set steel girders in place, said Gene Cilento, speaking for DOT.
Each interruption should last approximately 10 to 15 minutes, the time it typically takes to move each massive section into place, Cilento said.
The work will continue until 3 p.m. today over West Street's southbound lanes, then resume at 9 a.m. Tuesday as workers set girders over its northbound lanes. Cilento said officials hope to complete the girder-laying job by 3 p.m. Tuesday.
Today, Syracuse police, then state police, moved cruisers and vans onto the Interstate 690 westbound offramp to West Street and the West Street onramp at South Franklin Street to control traffic.
The girders, 2 1/2 feet deep by 1 1/4 feet wide, are being laid across the road in sections. Each completed span over both the north and south lanes will measure about 138 feet, Cilento said.
Officials originally expected to complete the girder placement without having to block traffic. Syracuse police asked for diversions after the work slowed down traffic enough to back it up onto I-690, Cilento said.
Cilento was unsure where access will be blocked on Tuesday.
Earlier:
Syracuse, NY -- Syracuse police are blocking access to West Street southbound from its northernmost entries to West Fayette Street so crews doing replacing the Erie Boulevard West Street bridge over West can move some steel, police said.
Police cars are blocking the onramp to West Street at South Franklin Street and the one from Interstate 690 East.
Officials hoped to reopen the onramps by 10:20 a.m., Capt. John Brennan said. They remained closed as of 10:45 a.m., but state police had taken over from city police at the South Franklin entrance.