Goodbye, Brookway Boulevard.

Hello, time-saving shortcut.

Lunchtime travelers caught up in the madness that is BrookwayBoulevard at high noon will be happy to know the bridge on theeastern end of Halbert Heights Road has been repaired and reopenedfor traffic, making the shortcut through that community to avoidBrookhaven’s main drag available once more. The bridge had beenclosed for almost three weeks while workers reinforced it.

“The bridge is in good condition now,” said Steve Moreton, thecity’s public works director. “We have some gravel we have to packdown at the ends of the bridge, and after that settles, we’ll comeback and hopefully get a paver to touch up the ends.”

City aldermen and county supervisors embarked on the $48,000bridge-fixing job together to replace its aging wooden pilings withnew steel supports. The weakened structure was facing a drop in itsrating from 10,000 pounds to a 6,000-pound limit.

With the now overhaul complete, the bridge has no weight limit.