The Lake Avenue bridge has fully reopened more than a month after a mechanical failure shut down its southern span.
Two lanes that have been closed since March 5 reopened at midnight Monday, April 7, operator Florida Drawbridges said Tuesday morning.
A broken gearbox prevented the southern half of the bridge from rising, company engineer John Matthews said. The Florida Department of Transportation shut down that section of the state-owned bridge.
Bridge crews raised the southern drawbridge temporarily while it was broken.
The Lake Avenue Bascule Bridge in December 2024.
A specialized part to repair the bridge had to be manufactured and delivered, FDOT spokesperson Guillermo Canedo said last month.
During that time, motorists were limited to two lanes on the bridge, one for eastbound traffic and one westbound.
A review is being conducted to determine why the gearbox stopped working, Matthews said.
The partial closure of the Lake Avenue bridge further strained traffic management in the town’s South End, Skip Aldridge and Rick Salvadore, co-chairs of the Citizens’ Association of Palm Beach, told the Daily News last month.
Residents living south of the bridge have experienced somewhat of a “perfect storm,” they said in a statement, noting that the Lantana bridge also has experienced recent mechanical issues, while unscheduled bridge openings to allow sand barges to pass through as part of the Bonefish Cove project have continued to tie up traffic.
The resulting impacts have led to worsening traffic gridlock, which intensifies every time the U.S. Secret Service closes South Ocean Boulevard near Mar-a-Lago during President Donald Trump’s visits.
The president is expected to return to his home in Palm Beach this weekend. The visit would be Trump’s ninth weekend at Mar-a-Lago since taking office Jan. 20.
The Lake Avenue bridge opened on July 10, 1973. A portion of the 1937 bridge it replaced remained beside the new bridge until 2011, when it was dismantled and pieces of it were sunk to create an artificial reef as part of the Snook Islands Natural Area just north of its original location.
The bridge is known officially as the Robert A. Harris Memorial Bridge, named for a retired Air Force officer who was director of the Lake Worth Chamber of Commerce from 1961 until his death in 1969.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Lake Avenue bridge fully reopens following monthlong closure