Bonner Bridge down to one lane for concrete repairs

Starting Wednesday, Jan. 28, weather permitting, the North Carolina Department of Transportation will close a section of one lane of the Herbert C. Bonner Bridge on Highway 12 over the Oregon Inlet. 

The lane closure will enable crews with Precon Marine Inc. of Chesapeake, Va. to begin repairs to the concrete along the underside of the bridge deck. The project is expected to be complete by mid-June.

As part of this $331,250 contract awarded in December 2014, crews will remove loose or deteriorated concrete and replace it with shotcrete – a form of concrete that is projected or “shot” onto a surface. These repairs will be made at approximately 249 locations identified as priority areas during the most recent regular two-year inspection of the bridge in May of last year.

Placing the new concrete is weather dependent. Temperatures must be at least 40 degrees for three days once the concrete is in place. There are no temperature restrictions for the removal of concrete.

The bridge will remain open to traffic during this project. Lane closures will be in place Monday through Friday during daylight hours through mid-June. Portable traffic signals and/or flag crews will be used to control traffic. The exact location of the lane closure will move as crews make repairs along the bridge. No lane closures will be in place during weekends, and should a hurricane or other severe storm be forecast to the hit the area, crews will stop work and reopen the entire bridge to traffic.

In addition to this repair work, an $889,401 contract was awarded in December 2014 to Smith-Rowe LLC of Mount Airy for repairs to the steel crutch bents currently in place from bent 108 through 114. These steel crutch bents were installed in 1989 and after years of being exposed to the elements, need to be replaced. Work will involve removing the upper portion of each steel crutch bent from under the bridge deck to just below the water surface. New steel crutch bents will then be bolted into place. 

This work is not temperature dependent. However, it is wind and wave dependent. This work is currently expected to begin in mid- to late February and is also scheduled to be complete by mid-June. No additional lane closures will be in place for this work.

Motorists are advised to use caution while traveling in the area and to expect delays. NCDOT reminds motorists to watch signs for construction information, stay alert and obey the posted speed limit.

For real-time travel information at any time, visit the Travel section of the NCDOT website, call 511, or follow NCDOT on Twitter. Another option is NCDOT Mobile, a phone-friendly version of the NCDOT website.