UPDATE!! Bridge is repaired and open as of 9:13 a.m. ... here’s the back story:

The Southport bridge is stuck open. Bridge tender Jarrod Norcott was working on fixing the problem at 8:50 a.m. Wednesday.

Norcott said he will notify the paper when bridge function has returned to normal.

Former Register reporter Diane Randlett (of Southport) filed the following:

“State was working on the bridge yesterday,” said Alice Thompson, neighbor. She said they were working on the bridge all day and then left.

Today, the bridge has been stuck in the ‘almost closed position since 7:30 this morning. Talking with Jarrod Norcott, I found out that he has called someone to come work on it from Washington, Maine; an hour more away, depending upon traffic. Traffic here can expect to be delayed for a couple of hours, if the problem is corrected. Jarrod said the bridge has had a lot of problems this summer and that a new hydraulic system has been installed. The problem today is a wedge that is not in the correct position during closing, so that if traffic were allowed to pass over the bridge, where it is not resting on this wedge support, the bridge would warp especially with heavier vehicles.

Many vehicles were stopped at either end this morning. One woman from Pennsylvania was hoping to drive home today and was pretty disappointed that she had to wait. A young woman in another car, said that she had driven her husband down from Waldoboro for work and wondered what she would do for two hours. Lisa Miller Clarke, new principal of Southport Central elementary school, was fortunate she said, that she could have worked at the Edgecomb Eddy School today, her previous post or she could work at Southport; the decision was made for her by a bridge wedge. Also waiting in line for the bridge to open was Duane Lewis, former bridge tender who was unavailable for comment.