The work to repair a damaged bridge along Highway 421 has begun, and North Carolina DOT officials say it could take a week. The Highway 16/18 bridge over 421 was damaged over the weekend when a tow truck driver smacked the underside of the bridge with the boom on his truck. The impact was enough to knock the whole boom assembly off the truck, and it had to be towed out of the lane of traffic. Officials closed the bridge for a few hours while it was inspected to make sure it was safe to hold traffic until crews could start on a permanent fix. That started yesterday, according to DOT, and will continue through next Wednesday. One southbound lane is closed, and trucks going in and out may cause short delays for traffic in either direction. The damage estimate at the time of the wreck was more than 60-thousand dollars.

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