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The Market Street Bridge will be closed to traffic Oct. 11 for flood gate testing, the Luzerne County Flood Protection Authority announced Monday.
Periodic drills and trial installations of flood closures are required by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The authority will perform a full installation of the Market Street closure structure on the Kingston side. Meanwhile, gate posts on the Wilkes-Barre side also will be inserted in roadway holes to ensure they fit securely, the authority said.
The work is expected to take one day. Motorists crossing the Susquehanna River will be detoured to the Veterans Memorial (Pierce Street) Bridge via Wyoming Avenue on the Kingston side and North River Street on the Wilkes-Barre side, the authority said.
The authority has new rubber gasket seals for the Market Street flood gates on both the Kingston and Wilkes-Barre sides.
Water pressure blew out the original seals when the Susquehanna swelled to a record 42.66 feet during Tropical Storm Lee in September 2011 because the gates’ bottom panels did not rest properly on the ground, creating a gap. The guide plates that hold the gate panels in place have been modified to correct the problem, officials have said.