SALT LAKE CITY -- — The bridge leading from Union Park Avenue onto I-215 was closed Wednesday evening and it could remain that way for a while.
Utah Department of Transportation crews are trying to determine the extent of damage it received in Wednesday's earthquake and how to repair it.
Not long after the shaking stopped, 13 teams of UDOT inspectors began checking out 621 Bridges that are in a zone impacted by that 5.7 magnitude earthquake.
By midday Thursday, they had checked out 290,
Seven sustained minimal damage but the one in Cottonwood Heights raised too many red flags for inspectors to allow it to remain open.
"There could potentially be some damage so we're just not going to take any risks with the safety of our bridges and we're going to take it out of commission," UDOT spokesman John Gleason said. "They're going to get up there with a crane and get a closer look and see what we have to do to get that issue addressed and maybe the issue is just more cosmetic but at this point that's the one bridge out of the 290 we've inspected that we just wanted to take out of service."
Gleason said they hope to do that within the next couple of days to hopefully have some answers about whether it’s safe enough to reopen or if major repair work needs to be done.
The 13 teams of UDOT inspectors will check out the the other 300 plus bridges, which include pedestrian and railroad bridges, to make sure they’re all safe.
