De-icing operations have freed the mechanism on Duluth’s Aerial Lift Bridge, which had been stuck in the “down” position due to ice build-up from last weekend’s severe storm. But officials say additional de-icing work is necessary Wednesday to ensure the bridge operates properly. Jayson Hron with the Duluth Seaway Port Authority says, “The whole episode has been a test of everyone’s patience and a test of the port’s resiliency, and it certainly emphasizes the importance of infrastructure, especially in a coastal community like ours.”
Hron says such a long down-time is unusual for the Aerial Lift Bridge. He says any incidents have typically lasted only a matter of hours, and “few can remember occasions where it stretched into days.”