Columbia Road Overpass repair work to begin

On Tuesday, Sept. 22, contractors will begin repair of the Columbia Road Overpass in Grand Forks.

The project will repair the finger joint on the north side of the overpass, which buckled earlier this summer. Traffic has been restricted to one lane in either direction since engineers detected the buckling.

During periods of the repair work, traffic will continue to be restricted. The contractor intends to first shut down the northbound lanes on the eastern half of the bridge, while allowing one lane of traffic in each direction on the two open lanes on the bridge’s western side.

Once that repair is complete, the contractor will flip the traffic control, closing the western two lanes while leaving the eastern two lanes open for one lane of traffic in each direction.

The repair work is scheduled to be completed by the end of October. The pedestrian walkway on the western side of the bridge is expected to stay open for the duration of the project.

The overpass was built in 1984 and later widened to four lanes in 1989.