4th Street is closed at the bridge between the Hospital and Walmart until further notice. Please utilize 219 to travel north-south through town. The existing bridge was inspected on June 18 by a county government bridge crew for an annual inspection. The bridge crew recommended the bridge be closed immediately until a qualified engineer could inspect the structure. Photos of the structure were sent to an engineer who agreed that the structure needed to be closed to traffic.

At the July 1 regular meeting, the Mayor and Town Council approved an engineering contract for a replacement bridge. At a July 22 special meeting, the Mayor and Town Council approved the purchase of the replacement structure.

The selected engineering firm inspected the structure in person and provided the temporary option to open the bride to a single lane of traffic in the middle of the bridge. The Mayor and Town Council have chosen to keep the structure closed until replacement except for during the Autumn Glory parades on October 10 and October 12. During the parades, north-south traffic will be detoured onto 4th Street. Certified traffic flaggers will provide traffic control on each end of the bridge.

The 4th Street bridge is located in wetlands and near the habitat of an endangered species, the Indiana Bat. As a result, replacing the structure requires an extensive permitting process with Maryland Department of the Environment and the US Army Corps of Engineers. The engineering firm has met onsite with MDE and is beginning the permitting process. Because MDE regulations prohibit instream operations from October 1 through April 30, the replacement of the structure will, in the best-case scenario, begin on May 1.

The Garrett County Government Roads Division will perform the replacement construction of the structure.

The bridge is expected to remain closed until early summer 2025.