N.C. Highway 86 Bridge Repairs Delayed Until Mid-July

**UPDATE** The original version of this article stated one lane of the N.C. 86 bridge was open. Multiple sources have reported the bridge to be totally closed. The article has been updated to reflect this.

Repairs on the damaged N.C. Highway 86 bridge over Interstate 85 in Hillsborough will be delayed until July. The repairs were originally scheduled for last weekend before inclement weather forced the project to be postponed.

“It turns out there is a very small number of contractors in the entire country that do this kind of work,” Hillsborough mayor Jenn Weaver told 97.9 The Hill on Tuesday. “And so when we had bad weather here, rather than hanging out for a week until the weather was better, that team had to go to another project.”

According to Weaver, the soonest the crew is expected to return to Hillsborough is Thursday, July 13. Once repairs do begin, Weaver said the project will likely last 10 days.

The bridge has been closed since a tractor trailer carrying construction equipment struck a steel support on May 31. The North Carolina Department of Transportation initially estimated repairs to be completed by June 30.

Signed detours on the site are directing motorists to use I-85 North to exit 170, then travel on I-85 South to exit 165.

The N.C. 86 bridge also sustained damage last September, when a tractor trailer crashed into the bridge and caught fire. The damage from that incident necessitated multi-day repairs.

Featured image via Google Maps

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