Pavement caves in on South 29th Street bridge

By Chris Fortune

A bridge on South 29th Street near Pickett Road is closed to drivers after part of the pavement caved in, causing a large hole in the roadway.

Jackson Jones, superintendent of streets and infrastructure, said calls initially came in reporting the hole around 7:30 a.m. Friday morning. The hole is about the size of a compact sedan on one side of the bridge.

The bridge is blocked off with signage and cement blocks, and as of Friday afternoon, Jones has not received any reports of vehicle damage resulting from the hole.

“I am in talks with (the Public Works department) on how we want to proceed on it,” he said. “Hopefully those progress quickly, and we can get on it quick.”

Mark Wright lives near the bridge and has seen vehicles bounce off the growing indentation on the bridge over the past couple of weeks.

“A big FedEx truck came and hit it, and I heard a loud boom, and that is when it fell in,” he said.

Wright said the city repaired the bridge with asphalt last summer after the road began to cave in.

“And now it took about a year to finally cave in through the street there,” he said.

Jones said receiving the supplies for the repairs will dictate how quickly the repair is completed.

“It will probably be more in the fall before that’s completed,” he said. “It’s a pretty major job.”