VINCENNES, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV)– Construction on the Lincoln Memorial Bridge has been on timeline so far– but park officials have discovered more damage to the structure than previously realized.

Joe Herron, the Chief Ranger at George Rogers Clark National Park that is overseeing the work on the bridge, said they are about a third of the way through the process of removing decaying stones on the bridge, which was built in 1932.

“Not huge surprises, but we are finding areas where the brick are much more deteriorated underneath the stones,” he said.

That will not affect the timeline of the project, as the bridge is still slated to reopen in late April. Herron said, eventually, the park will look to move to the next phase of construction, which will be reimplanting stones so the bridge still has the same historic look– with newer, safer materials. 

“The deconstruction, the removal of the stones will be through late April. We’re looking at the return of the stones in probably another year.”

Herron said they will have more details on the next phase once they conclude deconstruction work in the coming months. 

The timeline is looking really good on the bridge project. We are a little bit over a third of the way on the removal of the stones. The stones are being stored adjacent to the park.10

 Not huge surprises, but we are finding areas where the brick are much more deteriorated underneath the stones. There is going to be a massive rebuild, and the engineers are going to kind of retool everything as it goes back on.15 

The deconstruction, the removal of the stones will be through late April. We’re looking at the return of the stones in probably another year.