Hollywood City leaders was just informed that the Sheridan Street bridge over the Turnpike has been hit and damaged by an oversized commercial vehicle that was traveling north on the Florida Turnpike. This same type of incident recently occurred on the southbound side of the Turnpike and it was necessary to temporarily close the outer/rightmost westbound lane on Sheridan Street until the damaged support beams below the travel lanes were stabilized to prevent debris from falling on vehicles passing beneath it.
The beams over the northbound lanes were damaged and Broward County is now preparing to close at least one of the two eastbound lanes on Sheridan Street over the Turnpike.
It is possible that it will be necessary to close both of the lanes, but this has yet to be determined by the bridge inspection team. If this is the case, Broward County will prepare and submit a detour map showing how traffic will be rerouted to bypass the full closure.
This situation just occurred and there are presently no details available as to the overall duration of the single and/or full closure of the eastbound lanes. I will provide more up-to-date information as it becomes available.
Even a single lane closure will most likely result in significant congestion along Sheridan Street to the west and the surrounding roadway network. Broward County Transit routes may also be impacted.
Therefore, it is recommended that every effort be made to avoid this area until all of the lanes across the bridge are open to traffic. Eventually, there will be similar impacts to the bridge when permanent repairs are made to the damaged beams over the Turnpike’s north and southbound lanes, according to Rick Mitinger, P.E., Hollywood Transportation Engineer.
