Crews were preparing to begin repair work in mid-June 2014 on the General W.K. Wilson Jr. Bridge, a key span carrying Interstate 65 traffic north of Mobile that had been damaged nearly a month earlier in a fiery tanker truck crash.
State transportation officials said repairs were expected to begin the week of June 16 and be substantially complete by mid-July. During that first week of work, crews planned to install a temporary barrier rail along the southbound side of the bridge near the 23.8 milepost on I-65. Officials said the barrier installation could take up to five days, during which traffic in both directions would be reduced to a single lane.
Wide Loads Rerouted
While repairs were underway, trucks hauling loads wider than 12 feet were advised to avoid the bridge entirely, with state officials recommending a detour using U.S. Highway 43 and State Route 287 to State Route 59 instead.
May 22 Crash Sparked the Damage
The bridge had been temporarily shut down after a semi-trailer hauling petroleum collided with another vehicle on May 22, and both vehicles burst into flames. The resulting fire burned for hours, scorching roughly 250 feet of the bridge deck and damaging about 50 feet of structural steel girder underneath.
State crews reopened one of the bridge’s northbound lanes two days after the crash, on May 24, once engineers had assessed how much damage the fire caused to the structure. The partial reopening allowed some traffic flow to resume on the vital north-south corridor while the full extent of repairs was planned.
A Critical Corridor for South Alabama
The General W.K. Wilson Jr. Bridge carries I-65 traffic over the Mobile River in Mobile County, an essential route for commuters, freight haulers, and visitors moving between the Mobile area and points north. Any prolonged disruption to the bridge carried consequences for regional traffic patterns, underscoring why state officials moved to schedule repairs quickly after the crash.
Bridge and infrastructure incidents like this one were a recurring reminder of how much south Alabama’s economy depends on a handful of major highway arteries, particularly the stretch of I-65 connecting Mobile County to the rest of the state.