7th Street bridge in Phoenix to reopen Aug. 28 after being damaged in fire

7th Street bridge overlooking Salt River set to reopen

The 7th Street bridge is set to reopen at 7 a.m. Saturday after a fire damaged it six months ago.

PHOENIX - The 7th Street bridge over the Salt River will reopen Aug. 28 at 7 a.m. after a fire tore through the area, resulting in a months-long closure.

"After an expedited six-month repair and reconstruction project, the City of Phoenix Street Transportation Department will reopen the 7th Street bridge on Saturday at 7 a.m." officials announced Friday.

The city says approximately 40% of the bridge was damaged and had to be demolished and rebuilt. The cost of the construction project is $8.8 million.

Access to city trails underneath the bridge will still be restricted. A project to refurbish the grails is expected to be completed in late November.

The bridge reopening comes after a fire erupted on Feb. 28, burning for over two hours. The bridge was engulfed in flames after transportation officials said a gas main failed.

Crews were on the scene working to restore the bridge as soon as the fire was extinguished.

Time lapse video showed restoration work done to the bridge, with crews putting up the piers and the northern two spans.

"Within the first month we had all the demolition of that portion of the structure laid down and hauled away - quite the process," said Mark Glock, street transportation deputy with the City of Phoenix. "The demo contractor comes in, separated the concrete and steel…so that’s a great thing, and since that time [we] have been working on rebuilding the structure…as of today we have all of the substructure rebuilt."

More on the bridge: https://www.phoenix.gov/Streets/7thStSaltRiverBridge