Latvia to close border bridge for a week due to maintenance
A temporary road bridge in the Latvian town of Salacgrīva has been closed for a week for maintenance, public broadcaster LSM reported.
Salacgriva lies less than 20 kilometers from the Estonian border. The A1 (E67/Via Baltica) highway runs through the small town, meaning road traffic traveling to and from Riga mostly passes over the bridge, which spans the Salaca River.
The temporary bridge is in place while a sturdier construction gets built and has been a persistent issue in Salacgrīva, LSM reported.
In a letter sent this week to the Ministry of Transport, Latvian State Roads, and the builders of the Salacgrīva Bridge, local residents expressed objections to the traffic organization in the town, stating that it "often causes heavy congestion, which also hinders public transport."
Previously, LVC had stated that it did not see any good solution for the congestion around the temporary bridge.
The temporary bridge will be reinforced by replacing the metal plates, which regularly break under unsuitable traffic loads and require welding.
This repair work will require closing the temporary bridge to road traffic for about a week, though it will still be open to pedestrians, LSM reported.
An action plan was discussed Friday, involving representatives of LVC, the State Police, the bridge's builder, and the municipality of Limbaži.
Additionally, the need for greater municipal police involvement in traffic monitoring was addressed, and authorities plan to reinforce control of freight vehicles in the near future.
The temporary bridge replaced an older structure that had proved inadequate to the task of handling modern traffic volumes, not the least since it lay on a key north-south highway, along which most travelers from Estonia going to Riga would drive.
The issue came to a head in the summer of 2023 when Latvian and Lithuanian concertgoers complained of long delays when returning south from major music events in Tallinn. Even the Estonian Transport Administration (Transpordiamet) made inquiries with Latvian authorities over the state of the bridge, and work on a replacement began just a few months later.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte
Source: LSM
