Belle Isle to remain closed for weeks

By: Michael Martz | Richmond Times Dispatch
Published: February 26, 2009

Belle Isle will not reopen for public use for several weeks because of pending plans to protect the main pedestrian bridge from falling debris from the Robert E. Lee Bridge and to repair another bridge used for emergency access, Richmond officials said today.

"It looks like it's going to be several weeks," said John R. Pope Jr., director of the Department of Parks and Recreation. "The best thing people can do right now, the average park user, is stay off the island."

Richmond public works officials said they hope to approve a design today for scaffolding that will be erected along roughly 100 feet of the pedestrian bridge from the north bank of the James River to the island. The scaffolding is necessary to protect pedestrians from being struck by debris, such as a three-foot length of concrete that fell from the Lee Bridge on Saturday afternoon and forced city officials to close access to Belle Isle.

At the same time, city officials said they are pushing for expedited approval of bids to repair the emergency access bridge to the island from the river's south bank. The bridge was closed last month after faulty welds were discovered beneath it. City officials said today they expect repairs to take several months to that bridge.

Dexter White, director of the Department of Public Works, said the Lee Bridge is safe for vehicle traffic and already was scheduled for detailed inspection in April. He said the inspection would focus on the structural integrity of the bridge, completed in 1988.

The city also is working with the Virginia Department of Transportation, which designed and built the Lee Bridge, to determine why repairs made to the structure five years ago failed last weekend. Those repairs were made after city and state officials determined that the two spans of the bridge were rubbing together,.

City officials said the two spans are touching again, but they don't know the cause or the solution.

"VDOT is working closely with us on this one," said acting City Engineer M.S. Khara.

Contact Michael Martz at (804) 649-6964 or mmartz@timesdispatch.com.