Indian River – The Department of Transportation (DelDOT) in conjunction with the University of Delaware will be performing maintenance work for the sonar devices that monitor the condition of the existing Indian River Inlet Bridge.
The lane and shoulder closures will occur on Wednesday, April 28 and Thursday, April 29 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. This work will require the right lane and shoulder of Route 1 northbound in the vicinity of the Indian River Inlet Bridge to be closed.
After the northbound work is complete; the southbound right lane and shoulder will be closed. The rain date will be Tuesday, May 4 and Wednesday, May 5.
The monitoring devices were installed in cooperation with research performed by the University of Delaware and are just one of many efforts being made to ensure that the existing Indian River Inlet Bridge remains stable while the new bridge is built.
Additional efforts include:
Visual Structure Inspections: As part of the monitoring program, DelDOT performs annual bridge inspections of the structure.
Underwater Dive Inspections: DelDOT performs annual underwater dive inspections.
Bathymetric Surveys: DelDOT continues to conduct annual bathymetric/fathometer surveys to examine the inlet floor area around and between the underwater piers until the new bridge is complete.
Land Survey Equipment: Land survey equipment is used to monitor movement on the existing bridge on a monthly basis. These readings have indicated little to no movement of the bridge. Any movement indicated is a result of normal expansion and contraction due to temperature effects.
