WINFALL – A stretch of U.S. 17 Business in Perquimans County was closed to traffic Tuesday and will remain closed until next spring.
The N.C. Department of Transportation had planned to close the stretch of U.S. 17 Business between Hertford and Winfall in early July so they could construct a replacement bridge for the historic Hertford S Bridge.
However, officials discovered during a routine inspection Tuesday that a critical part of the steel truss bridge had been damaged during a vehicle crash. The decision was made to close the old bridge seven weeks earlier than planned for safety reasons.
U.S. 17 Business will be closed between Newby Street in downtown Hertford and the intersection of N.C. 37 in Winfall. Traffic will be detoured onto U.S. 17.
The current construction schedule calls for the replacement bridge to open to traffic in March 2022.