The 17th Street Bridge, one of two connections between the island and the mainland parts of Vero Beach, was reopened to one lane of traffic in each direction Thursday morning, relieving the pressure on the other link, the Merrill P. Barber Bridge.
The 17th Street Bridge reopened to traffic two days early, as it had been scheduled to be closed for the whole week. The Vero Beach Police Department announced the partial reopening on social media, to the great relief of suffering motorists.
One lane of traffic is now allowed back on to the bridge in each direction on the north side. That’s where construction crews, close to the beachside end of the bridge, have replaced an entire 400-foot section with crumbling concrete and rusted metal connections which had made the bridge structurally unsafe.
The alternate route of the Barber bridge had been seriously congested with long backups for the previous three days. The worst traffic situation was created on Tuesday when an accident around mid-day at the top of the north side of the bridge snarled traffic to the point where any trip from the island to the mainland was taking about an hour instead of the usual 20 minutes.
Some people gave up on trying to reach their destinations and canceled trips to bridge games and other engagements.
