Traffic into Charleston from West Ashley and James Island was so snarled this morning that many people seemed to be turning around and heading home.
At issue was a mechanical failure of a big machine on the northbound Ashley River bridge on U.S. Highway 17 that is working on the new Ashley River Crossing (ARC) bike-pedestrian bridge being built now.
According to a city news alert, “the ARC bridge contractor, Mas-Tec Civil, experienced a mechanical failure on a large piece of equipment stationed on U.S. 17 Northbound Ashley River Bridge early this morning.
“The equipment stationed on the vehicular bridge has a large aerial boom that cannot be moved until the hydraulic system supporting the boom can be lowered safely. This was an unforeseen mechanical issue and is outside of the project team’s control.”
Officials said three of four northbound lanes of the vehicle bridge would remain closed until crews could fix and remove the machine.
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