NEWS UPDATE

PCL Civil Constructors, the Ben Sawyer Bridge Rehabilitation Contractor, will wait until early February 2010 to close the Ben Sawyer Bridge and Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway.

To provide sufficient notice for maritime traffic to schedule travel plans after the new year, the closure of the waterway at the bridge will not occur prior to February 3, 2010 with a roadway closure not to occur prior to February 5, 2010. The official start of the ten-day waterway closure and consequently the ten-day Ben Sawyer Bridge closure remains weather dependent.

Crews are using the month of January to complete all final closure preparation activities. Jacking issues discovered in early December have been addressed and no longer impact the start or schedule of closure activities.

Scheduling closure activities in February 2010 still allows the contractor to meet SCDOT contract requirements to complete closure activities between October 1, 2009 and March 31, 2010.