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Tiger Bend Road bridge closes suddenly; residents now have to take two-mile detour
ST. GEORGE - A popular bridge in St. George has closed unexpectedly, leaving residents confused.
They say they did not receive any notice about this closure.
Residents now have to take a two-mile detour instead of using the bridge on Tiger Bend Road. This route takes them up Creek Hollow Road, around to Feather Nest Lane.
Travis Procell has lived in the neighborhood since 2016 and said he isn't surprised.
“Well, I think it’s typical of Baton Rouge actually. We don’t have many alternatives, and so when something doesn’t go well or something closes, you’re really SOL,” Procell said. "It was a complete shock to most of us around here.”
On Friday, the city placed orange and white signs on both sides of the bridge to prevent traffic flow.
Louise Ashworth is also a resident in this community and said it is a major problem.
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“I saw them doing it Friday morning. When I was leaving, they pulled up and just put it down," Ashworth said. "I don’t even think we got a notice, at least I don’t remember hearing it."
Aisworth says she has a pacemaker defibrillator that goes off, so EMS would have to go all the way around the detour to get to her if something did happen to her.
Transportation and Drainage Director for East Baton Rouge Parish Fred Raiford says the reason it closed without any warning was due to safety precautions after DOTD completed an inspection on Aug. 7.
"We had to close the bridge immediately, which sometimes people get very frustrated that they didn’t get a chance to know, and I understand that,” Raiford said. "It appears, based on what they see, that we can get started on Monday of next week.”
He explained that this particular bridge has a lot of traffic on it and a lot of people use it and particularly from a school standpoint, with buses, but said that they plan on getting it back open as soon as possible.
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