LITTLEFIELD, Arizona (ABC4) – If you’re driving south on I-15 toward Nevada, be prepared for traffic. This is because the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) is updating the Virgin River Bridge in Littlefield, just 30 miles from St. George.
“The bridge is narrowed down to one lane in each direction, so you can still get through the work zone, but while it’s narrowed down that puts some weight and width restrictions in place,” says Ryan Harding of ADOT.
Harding says this is a two-year project and if a vehicle is wider than 10 feet or weighs more than 129,000 pounds, drivers will have to take a 200-mile detour.
“Any vehicles that are wider than that, have to take this long detour from Cedar City, Utah down to Las Vegas,” says Harding.
This is to update the bridge’s foundations, guardrails, markings on the road and signage.
“It’s a major commerce corridor for a lot of trucking and stuff, moving across the country,” says Harding.
Harding says the department created an application for smartphones called the Virgin River Bridge, for drivers.
“It’s available on Apple and Android devices and we would encourage people, especially like truckers, who frequently use that road to download that on their device, and that will kind of give you project updates and keep you up to date on what’s going on, what the restrictions are,” he says.
According to data from ADOT, over 28,000 vehicles drive on I-15 every day, just between Littlefield Road and Desert Springs.
