One Northway northbound lane opens at Twin Bridges

One northbound lane on the Twin Bridges is closed again due to roadwork, the state Department of Transportation just announced.

This comes right as the evening commute is about to begin. On Monday morning, work that was expected to be finished over the weekend continued until after noon, blocking all northbound lanes.

Contractors are having difficulty securing a steel plate on one section of the span, DOT spokesman Bill Reynolds said.

"Right now we're just working to secure this plate," he said.

While only one lane will be closed for the evening commute, he said, DOT recognizes that is not ideal and is trying to get the work done as quickly as possible.

"It is still going to cause congestion," he said.

One right lane was closed at 3:45 p.m. Monday between Exits 7 and 8.

Traffic was backed up on the Northway northbound as that side of the Twin Bridges remained closed following the first weekend of a multimillion-dollar construction project. One lane finally opened shortly after noon, and the state Department of Transportation announced at 2 p.m. that all the lanes were open in plenty of time for the evening rush hour.

Delays Monday morning were heaviest around the Thaddeus Kosciusko Bridge between Colonie and Clifton Park, where the highway was closed between exits 7 and 8. Drivers used Exit 7 to Route 9 north and re-entered I-87 at Exit 8.

Traffic was reduced to a single lane in each direction over the weekend, as the first phase of a $29 million project to rebuild the decks on the northbound side of the bridge over the Mohawk River began Friday night. The weekend construction was scheduled to be finished by 5 a.m., Monday but crews ran into unexpected delays, forcing workers to stay through the morning commute, said Carol Breen, a DOT spokeswoman.

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One Northway northbound lane opens at Twin Bridges