The next step toward completing repairs to the collapsed water main on the Anna Maria Island Bridge on Manatee Avenue is underway.
Manatee County information outreach manager Bill Logan wrote in a July 12 email to The Islander that Bradenton-based Woodruff & Sons was set to begin removing the fallen pipeline from Anna Maria Sound the week beginning July 17.
About 1,000 feet of the 16-inch water main — which was installed in 1982 — fell from its position on the underside of the bridge June 19 after hangers holding it along the east end of the bridge failed.
Woodruff & Sons began repair work June 26 and finished installing a new — albeit temporary — pipeline across the AMI Bridge by June 30.
Another phase of work will involve securing new hangers along the bridge to hold the new main, which will need to be permanently repositioned from the sidewalk to the underside of the bridge as repairs proceed.
Logan estimated that work, which will again require lane closures along the bridge, might not begin for “about a month” due to material availability.
The removal of the old water pipe from Anna Maria Sound is not expected to interfere with traffic on the bridge, according to Logan.