FALMOUTH, Va. — If you normally cross the Falmouth Bridge from Fredericksburg into to Stafford County during your morning commute, we don’t need to tell you traffic was snarled this morning.
It happened about 5 a.m. after a crew performing parapet work on the bridge was cleaning up from overnight work when their bucket truck struck an overhanging light fixture on the bridge.
With concern the fixture could fall, traffic was diverted off of the bridge and onto nearby River Road for about an hour, said Virginia Department of Transportation spokeswoman Kelly Hannon.
The bridge was later reopened to traffic late Wednesday morning and was running without incident that afternoon.
Hannon said this morning’s incident on the bridge does not mirror one last year where a cantilever sign fell onto Interstate 66 in Fairfax County. Following the sign’s failure, many cantilever signs were inspected and in some cases, at Va. 610 and at Prince William Parkway and I-95, signs had to be taken down and relpaced with more secure ones.
The Falmouth Bridge is set to undergo a $24 million rehabilitation that should begin early next year and be complete in 2016. Right now, the sidewalk is being replaced.
