Sand Covers Route 1; IR Bridge Declared Sound

Highway closed until Thursday from Dewey to Bethany

The abandoned roadway leading up to the old Indian River Inlet bridge is scattered in bits and pieces across the beach, showcasing the destructive power of Mother Nature.

After a visual inspection of the new bridge, a Department of Transportation engineer said the span is structurally sound, but a breach of the barrier dune on the north side of the inlet buried the approaches under several feet of sand.

"It's through the vision of former governors and our current governor that got the new bridge in place," said DelDOT Secretary Shailen Bhatt. "We opened it earlier this year, and it just goes to show how important infrastructure is to both our state and the tourism community, but also times like these, where if we had not had the new bridge in place, we would be talking about a lot different of a story right now."

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