Officials last night closed the Warren Road bridge spanning part of the Loch Raven Reservoir for emergency repair work, the Baltimore Department of Transportation announced yesterday.
Baltimore City owns and maintains the Cockeysville bridge, one of four that crosses over the reservoir, a major supplier of drinking water for city residents.
WBAL-TV’s David Collins went out to the site this morning and found chunks of rusted metal on the ground below the grated deck and other beams with holes in them.
Warren road bridge closed. Take a look at what we found underneath. pic.twitter.com/lFgDJFf017
— David Collins (@dcollinsWBAL) April 11, 2019
Some of the Warren Road bridge beams have holes through them pic.twitter.com/jll4Jtd1Nk
— David Collins (@dcollinsWBAL) April 11, 2019
Detours will be marked at Bosley and Poplar Hill Roads, and the department advises motorists to plan for longer commute times on the crossings at Dulaney Valley and Paper Mill roads and Loch Raven Drive.
In 2016, the Warren Road bridge was closed for four-and-a-half months so crews could work on the supports of the truss bridge after an inspection revealed it was unsafe.
According to the Maryland Historical Trust, the bridge was built in 1922 after the city built a second dam in the Loch Raven Reservoir to increase water levels for the growing population.
It is the oldest crossing still in use for vehicles. The city decided to phase out a similar truss bridge on Paper Mill Road in 1998, and constructed a more modern replacement adjacent to it. The older bridge is still open to pedestrians.
