Laurel residents frustrated with second bridge closure

LAUREL, Del. – Residents will soon have to find a different way to get from one side of town to the other since this Poplar Street bridge will be out of commission in the coming weeks for safety repairs.

“DelDOT’s got to shut Poplar down again and right now Poplar is one of the main routes across the creek because the Central Avenue, the main bridge is down for repairs,” explains John Shwed, Laurel’s Mayor.

It wouldn’t be too big of a challenge if Laurel wasn’t already down a bridge, but with two of their three bridges closed, “All traffic going north and south between the parts of our community are now going to have to go over, for two weeks, they’re going to have to go over the Delaware Avenue bridge,” says Shwed.

With only one bridge open many are anticipating delays, congestion, and longer detours.

“I definitely think its going to be jam packed especially during school hours the morning and when the kids let out and then people coming from work,” explains Laurel resident Taylor Littleton.

Another local resident and business owner Kim Littleton, says, “We have to go around Maryland Avenue, down Delaware Avenue to get back to Poplar Street to get back to our house on 7th Street, so it takes a little bit of time versus just popping over the bridge on to home.”

Now the poplar street bridge is expected to only be closed for two weeks according to DelDOT starting October 8th. But residents are worried it will take longer than that since DelDOT just added a couple more months to Central Avenue’s repairs.

Littleton adds, “One bridge has affected quite a bit let alone two, but hopefully it will just be the two weeks that they promised and there won’t be any other troubles, but with all this trouble you don’t know.”

There will be an informational session on Tuesday, October 2nd from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at the Laurel Public Library, for anyone with questions or concerns for DelDOT and town officials regarding these bridge closures.