(WWJ) – Falling ice on Sunday led to the closure of the Mackinac Bridge for the second day in a row.
The bridge closed around 10 a.m. Sunday, as officials said there were hazardous ice conditions and it reopened about 5 p.m.
Plows and trucks traveled across the bridge, to help “shake things loose."
The trucks, combined with warming temperatures and winds, were helping slabs and pieces of ice up to seven feet long fall from the bridge’s towers and cables, according to posts on the Mackinac Bridge Twitter page.
After three hours of closure, bridge officials posted a photo of ice on cable bands.
Similar ice conditions caused the bridge to be closed for around five hours on Saturday.
Officials on Sunday re-shared a message that went out to frustrated drivers trying to cross between the Upper and Lower Peninsulas: "Don't know how else to say it, but ice is still falling and we can't reopen yet. Staff still monitoring to see if it stops so they can allow traffic to cross again. I'm so sorry for anyone stuck waiting right now."
Multiple closures due to falling ice over the last few weeks had bridge officials looking at records. There have been 28 (including this weekend) since 1995, ranging in duration from just 37 minutes all the way to 20 hours, 15 minutes.
The average closure was just under five hours. “We're all hoping for below average,” officials said at the onset of Saturday’s closure.
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