The U.S. 50 bridge over the Blue Mesa Reservoir will temporarily reopen for the July 4 weekend, restoring a critical route across Colorado for holiday travel while repairs along the middle span continue, officials said Thursday.
Emergency vehicles and those traveling in smaller vehicles can begin crossing Middle Bridge west of Gunnison at 6:30 a.m. Wednesday, the Colorado Department of Transportation said, announcing the completion of the first phase of repairs of the bridge that shut down April 18.
The bridge will be open 12 hours a day through the holiday weekend. But starting July 8, the bridge will open just twice daily as crews to continue to work on repairs.
July 3 through July 7, a pilot car will guide cars in each direction across the bridge from 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., CDOT said. After the holiday weekend, pilot cars will lead single-direction traffic across the bridge in alternating directions from 6:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Passenger cars, pickup trucks, vans, motorcycles and emergency vehicles will be allowed over the bridge, CDOT said. Heavier vehicles — including campers and RVs, trucks pulling trailers, semitrucks and buses — will be required to take the County Road 26 detour.
Crews completed the first of two stages of critical repairs on the horizontal part of an L-shaped beam along the central span of the bridge, where inspectors found a 3-inch crack in structural steel, CDOT said Thursday.
The unexpected shutdown of the bridge — which serves as a critical link for Montrose, Gunnison and Hinsdale counties — left residents scrambling for solutions to get to school, work and doctor appointments.
Construction teams, working from scaffolding suspended from the side of the bridge, started the process of bolting four plates in four parts of the bridge June 12, CDOT said. The first phase of repairs addressed parts of the bridge that posed “an imminent risk to structural integrity,” the agency said.
Each steel plate is about 23 feet long, 2½ feet wide and 2½ inches thick and weighs about 9,000 pounds, CDOT said. More than 200 bolts were needed to secure each plate in place.
The shutdown of the bridge came at the urging of federal highway officials in April after crews found the crack during a mandatory inspection of the high-strength steel bridge. The inspection was required because of known issues with similarly constructed bridges around the country.
CDOT identified five potentially problematic bridges across the state that used T-1 steel. Further inspection revealed there were three that fit the federal criteria for further action — two bridges over Blue Mesa and one in Bent County.
Crews will look at potential repairs for the smaller Lake Fork Bridge, about 2 miles west of the Middle Bridge, and install strain-gauge sensors to monitor the effect of traffic loading on the structure, CDOT said. Traffic will be reduced to a single lane starting Friday through Monday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. as teams install the sensors.
The Bent County bridge is small and low to the ground and was quickly inspected. It was deemed safe in 2023.