THOMASVILLE — An area bridge recently closed for repairs reopened Tuesday, Grady County officials said.

The bridge that crosses Barnetts Creek on Old Thomasville Road, 400 feet long and 30 feet wide, was closed “indefinitely” on June 5 after Georgia Department of Transportation inspection personnel examined it.

The DOT found that erosion of a bridge pylon, usually a slab of concrete used to support a structure, caused unstable conditions and a gap to develop in the planks. The bridge reopened, after repairs, at approximately 1:30 p.m. Tuesday.

“The bridge has been repaired and stabilized,” Yancey Maxwell, county superintendent of roads and bridges, said. “Everything went according to plan and smoothly. The bridge was stabilized and the joint resealed. They got everything back good to go and it worked out great. We’re glad to have it open for the public again.”

The Grady County Board of Commissioners approved single-sourcing the repair to Southern Concrete (of Albany) for $32,500.

Repair work began June 22 and took approximately seven days.

“I’m pleased that we were able to get a contractor scheduled as quickly as possible, someone who was able to respond to needs and was able to finish the project in the time frame they came up with, seven days,” County Administrator Rusty Moye said.

Maxwell said things went very smoothly and there were only a couple of complaints from motorists feeling there was no notice of the road closure.

“In the case of an emergency, you do not have time for notice, you have to shut it down,” he said. “We also had to wait for the bridge inspectors to make it down. They were supposed to be here yesterday, but made it down today. They looked at it, said it was fine and we reopened it.”

The bridge is in Commissioner Charles Renaud’s district. He said the quick repair is a credit to good government.

“When we found out there was a problem, the state and local officials got together and did a tremendous job of getting a vital route back up and running,” he said. “My hat is off to the people involved there. It is good to see the process working right.”