CULPEPER – The Advance Mills bridge on Route 743 in northern Albemarle County is closed indefinitely after additional deterioration of the bridge’s structural members was discovered during a regularly-scheduled inspection Thursday.

Bridge engineers with the Virginia Department of Transportation will perform a more detailed inspection and analysis of the damage to determine whether the deterioration can be repaired or retrofitted and whether the bridge can be safely reopened to traffic.

The bridge was already closed to traffic this week for its semi-annual inspection and was scheduled to reopen after the inspection was completed. It is posted with a 3-ton weight limit due to the deterioration of several structural elements and its overall condition. That condition also makes more frequent inspections necessary, at six-month intervals rather than the annual inspection schedule observed for most bridges.

The bridge is a truss structure built of forged steel with a timber deck and has stood at Advance Mills since 1948. It was moved to Advance Mills from Alleghany County to replace an earlier structure lost during a storm. Its original construction date is unknown.

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Page last modified: Jan. 17, 2008