Albion lift bridge reopening pushed back about 4 months after ‘catastrophic’ failure of control system

Photo by Tom Rivers: The Main Street lift bridge remains in the upright position to allow boating traffic to pass through today. Village officials hoped the bridge rehabilitation would be completed in time for the Albion Strawberry Festival next month, but now a completion is more likely in September.

ALBION – The Main Street lift bridge won’t be reopening anytime soon.

Village officials were expecting the bridge would be operational in time for the Albion Strawberry Festival on June 13-14, but the bridge may not be ready for four months.

A “catastrophic event” occurred on May 7 during start-up testing of the control system to operate the lift bridge, Paul Attoma, engineer-in-charge for Region 4 Construction, wrote in a letter today to Albion Village Trustee Joyce Riley.

A failure occurred within the main drive system cabinet located in the control tower. A vendor, with a specialization in control systems and experienced in movable bridge projects, was starting the motor function tests, Attoma said.

“When the system was energized, one of the electric drive controllers arced, producing a fire in the drive cabinet,” Attoma wrote in his letter. “The arcing drive assembly was severely damaged, and the heat from the fire damaged the second controller. Both drive controllers are beyond salvage and other components in the cabinet were damaged.”

Significant lead time is needed to procure and test replacement control drive units, he said,

“We anticipate the bridge opening will be delayed an additional 15 weeks,” Attoma wrote in the letter.

The cause of the failure is being investigated by the electrical contractor and control manufacturer, with the back panel of the cabinet with all the drivers and controls shipped to the manufacturer for forensic analysis and replacement.

Riley said the latest setback is “horrible” for the community.

“At this point nothing surprises me,” she said.

The bridge was initially closed on Nov. 14, 2022 for what was expected to be about 18 months for a major rehabilitation. That project stretched to more than two years when the bridge was reopened just after Christmas on Dec. 27, 2024.

But then the bridge was closed again to traffic on April 21 to finish up the extensive rehabilitation of the bridge that was originally installed in 1914.

With the failure in the control tower, the bridge completion may be closer to three years from the start of the project.