A heavily trafficked bridge along Dale Drive in Marion is back open to the public after construction crews on Tuesday completed a project to replace an aging bridge.

Mayor Larry Gill said the project is not yet fully complete, but work has reached the stage where vehicles can be allowed through again. Some checklist items, such as road striping, will need to be addressed at a later date.

Gill said temporary striping and hydro seeding will be done in the next several days, which can both be done while traffic is flowing.

“They’re going to hydro-seed this tomorrow, and so please be mindful of that if you see guys out here working to get us some nice grass and things out there to make it look a little better,” he said. “But for the main thing is, it’s open to traffic, and people can go through. You don’t have to call me anymore; it’s open.”

Permanent striping will likely require a short closure of a few hours to half a day, Gill said, but that is a few weeks off. The asphalt first needs time to cure, he said.

The Dale Drive bridge, which is one of the most heavily trafficked in Lauderdale County with some 12,000 vehicles per day crossing, has been in poor condition for some time. Lauderdale County District 2 Supervisor Wayman Newell, whose district includes Marion, previously said he has personally been working to address the bridge for more than 10 years.

The county in 2022 was awarded $1.1 million in state funds through the Emergency Road and Bridge Repair program to fund the bridge replacement. The project originally included three-laning Dale Drive from the bridge to the intersection of Lindley Road and Dale Drive, as well as a bid alternate that would have reconfigured the Lindley Road and Dale Drive intersection from a four-way stop to a roundabout. The county, however, was forced to scale back on the scope of work due to cost.

The bridge was closed in late August as crews with Joe McGee Construction, which was awarded the project based on competitive bids, began demolishing the old structure and preparing the site for the new bridge construction.

Gill said he wanted to thank everyone involved in making the bridge project happen and the contractor for working diligently to move the project forward. The project had a deadline of 90 working days, he said, but Tuesday’s reopening came after just 60 working days.

“That is unbelievable. That is big time. That is how you get things done,” he said.

The Dale Drive bridge, Gill said, is the “heartbeat” of Marion, and having it closed has impacted town residents and local businesses. He said he wanted to thank Marion residents and business owners for their patience and hopes the reopened bridge will bring an even greater number of customers to Marion’s stores.