GROSSE ILE, Mich. (WXYZ) — The Wayne County Department of Public Services says the Grosse Ile Parkway Bridge is back open, but the reprieve will be temporary ahead of another closure.
The free bridge opened for the first time since April at 4 p.m. Thursday. It will remain open for up to four weeks, providing traffic relief ahead of the Memorial Day weekend and Grosse Ile Islandfest. It has been opened at its current load rating.
The temporary reopening comes, according to officials, after the first phase of repairs was completed ahead of schedule. The bridge had been in the middle of an 8-week project on the aging bridge. While the bridge has been closed, residents have been forced to pay tolls on the toll bridge, the only other bridge that provides access to the island community.
In 2019, 7 Investigator Heather Catallo uncovered that underwater inspections on the bridge were skipped for 10 years, between 2007 and 2017.
RELATED: Watch Heather's 2019 story below
According to officials, the Department of Public Services proactively completed an inspection on May 22 that allows for the design and planning of the next phase of repairs. That inspection had been scheduled for June.
Details of phase two of the repairs, including closures, will be announced in the near future once plans are finalized, with that phase expected to take up to three weeks to complete.
