A new bridge crossing Little River Canyon on Highway 35 atop Lookout Mountain is nearing completion.

The G.E. Hill Bridge is currently being replaced, and Alabama Department of Transportation Division 1 Engineer Johnny Harris said the new bridge should be open to traffic sometime by late summer or early fall.

Harris said the old bridge would be torn down and removed. He said the old bridge wasn’t in danger of failure and still maintained structural sufficiency.

Bridges have sufficiency ratings from 1-100. Harris said the rating of G.E. Hill Bridge was 32.2, which qualified the bridge to be evaluated for replacement.

Harris said cost is taken into consideration when a bridge is evaluated. ALDOT implements a program that evaluates bridges every two years.

Earlier estimates show the total cost of the project between $6 million-$7 million.

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