CHESAPEAKE, Va. — UPDATE: Great Bridge Bridge in Chesapeake is open again after three straight days of closures.
The bridge closed Thursday afternoon to avoid another heat malfunction, according to Chesapeake Public Works. It was closed at 1:30 p.m. for about 30 minutes, so public works and the Chesapeake Fire Department could execute cooling operations.
Public works said that these operations may continue for the next few days.
This scheduled closure comes after the bridge malfunctioned due to the heat, causing it to get stuck open.
In a statement, the city of Chesapeake said the bridge got stuck open Tuesday because the recent extreme heat caused the bridge joints to expand.
Firefighters sprayed water on the bridge to cool down the joints and shrink them back to their normal size.
"We noticed after about 20 minutes that the bell was still ringing, so we were curious as to why it hadn’t gone down yet," said Ann Dumenigo, who works at a business within eyesight of the bridge.
In the video taken on Tuesday, you can hear the bell Dumenigo is referring to, signaling that the Great Bridge drawbridge was up.
The video was shot by Stella Solorzano. She works at the same business as Dumenigo.
Also, in the video, you can see firefighters spraying water on the bridge to try to get it to close.
“The bridge gets stuck a lot, but not to that extent where they couldn’t get it back down. So to see the guys up on the ladder, right away we went out there and started making a video," said Solorzano.
Wednesday, water was again being sprayed on the bridge, but this time by what appeared to be a work crew working on the bridge.
