The Murray Morgan Bridge, which carries 11th Street between the Port of Tacoma and the city’s downtown, will be closed from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday and Friday, Sept. 6-7 and Wednesday and Thursday, Sept. 12-13 for bridge cable inspections.

Thursday, crews will remove a counterweight wire cable on the southeast corner of the bridge, and send it to Seattle for testing. Crews will replace the wire Friday. The same scenario will take place next week with a wire cable from the southwest corner of the bridge. There are 64 cables on the bridge-58 of which, have been in service for 95 years.

The bridge will completely close to traffic during work hours while crews inspect the cables that hold up the two, one-million pound counterweights that facilitate the opening and closing of the bridge for marine traffic. The last inspections show that cable deterioration is progressing.

Because of its age, the Murray Morgan Bridge is scheduled for inspection every six months. Typically, WSDOT inspects its bridges at least once every two years.

Crews planned to close the bridge 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday this week, but needed additional time to acquire necessary rigging equipment for the inspection.

Signs posted near each end of the bridge will direct motorists to a detour via Pacific Avenue to SR 509.

Drivers can call 5-1-1 or visit http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic/ for road and traffic updates.