Endom Bridge Almost Ready

A Twin Cities bridge could soon be open to traffic again.

The Endom Bridge was shut down after being struck by lightning over four months ago.

DOTD officials say the hold up was due to several parts that had to be made from scratch.

That lightning storm crippled the Endom Bridge and several of its electrical components.

The two drives valued at $25 thousand each were installed last week.

And they are the only ones like them in the world.

NBC 10's Nathan Ledford toured the control house today and found out just why the Endom Bridge has taken so long to get back in business.

The Endom Bridge sits motionless open for river traffic, but that's not the case for road traffic.

Lightning shorted out several electrical components in late may.

So what's the hold up?

"The drive was the primary component that we had to have and it had to be manufactured," said DOTD Assistant Administrator Kirk Gallien

This is the famous gizmo we've been waiting for:  it's a kind of circuit board.

Kirk Gallien shows off the two new ones now installed in the Endom Bridge. 

Emerson Industrial Automation in Pennsylvania had to build these drives from scratch, because every swing bridge in the country is unique. 

And all these pieces and parts of this electric drive are what move the bridge itself back and forth.

"When you turn it on and off, the contactors in here actually sends and stops the pulses of electricity," said Gallien.

Each drive is worth 25 thousand dollars.

Only one has to be used, the other is for back up.

"There are no spare parts for those two drives, that's correct. If they happen to get struck again then we would be obligated to build the drives again," said Gallien.

But that's not the only problem; several more standard electric parts like controls were replaced as well.

It was a lightning strike that shorted circuits and put the Endom Bridge out of service for over four months. Now DOTD is upgrading the bridge with more grounding wire to keep it safe from strikes in the future.

Gallien says the main parts of the bridge are ready for inspection.

But there are some small parts that need to be installed to get cars rolling across Endom Bridge again.

Gallien tells me a representative from the manufacturer will be here tomorrow morning to test the bridge.

He tells NBC 10 News the bridge will be ready by the end of next week at the latest.