Pinal Today

The town has received several questions regarding the public’s ability to view the upcoming Gila River Bridge slide, currently scheduled for early January. This process involves repositioning and joining each half of the bridge over a two-weekend period. 

While every effort was made to consider possible options, due to limited space, the bridge’s proximity to the road, and the size of the bridge, the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) has determined that the safety hazards are too great to encourage public viewing / involvement. 

Additionally, the slide will occur overnight and take a significant amount of time (with a few inches of movement per hour), making real-time viewing unideal. 

As an alternative, ADOT will assemble overnight footage of the bridge slide and provide the town with photos, short clips, and time-lapse videos which will be shared on our social media. 

The bridge slide is scheduled to occur over the first two weekends in January and will involve lane closures and single-lane travel near the Gila River Bridge. This schedule may be adjusted depending on weather conditions. 

ADOT will be distributing additional information regarding this work and the associated traffic impacts in the week ahead. For questions or additional information, please visit the bridge replacement project page: https://azdot.gov/.../state-route-79-gila-river-bridge... or call ADOT’s Bilingual Project Information Line at 855-712-8530.

Original source can be found here.