Issues resolved on temporary bridge in Petersburg after drivers share concerns

PETERSBURG, Va. — It's a story CBS 6 has been covering since April of 2022, when a small bridge on Oak Hill Road was closed to traffic. It stayed that way for about four years.

Then this past March, a temporary bridge was installed to open the street back up. 

The bridge is made of steel and wood and it's only one lane.

With it came the end to a four year long detour.

"Oh, it was a huge pain," said Alan Sullins, who drives across the bridge daily.

For many in the neighborhood, like David Wynn, it came as a relief,

"It’s a blessing. You know, cause now I can get home. We used to have to come and make a detour, you might as well say, to get here because the bridge was closed," Wynn said. 

In March of 2026 the temporary bridge was opened, allowing traffic to once again go straight.

“It’s good to have it now. We’re glad we have access to it, but this is only temporary,” said Sullins.

But recently, some who drive across the bridge, like Sullins, say they began began to notice an issue with gaps.

"I go over it every day and I noticed the gaps are bigger, the wood planks, and when a car goes over, you see it moving," Sullins said. 

“This bridge, as we stand here today, is safe," Petersburg Deputy City Manager Kenneth Miller said on Monday morning.

City leaders say the steel and wood bridge gets inspected weekly.

“Weather, time, wood expanding, wood contracts. We’ve seen that in our inspections" said Miller.

Monday morning, the gaps between a few wood planks were being fixed.

"Today, what we are having is a contractor come out and he’ll re-measure, re-tool and put in new planks, if a plank is needed." said Miller.

But Sullins also spied another problem: two of the rumble strips, used to slow down cars crossing the bridge, had disappeared

“Someone might have removed them, certainly not our contractor or city employees," said Miller.

Those were replaced on Monday as well.

City leaders are hopeful construction on the new bridge will begin in the next year and a half.

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