PHILIPSBURG — The bridge connecting the Sint Maarten airport to motoring traffic suffered a major setback on Monday.
Sint Maarten officials said the long causeway that connects Princess Juliana International Airport to Philipsburg opened to allow maritime traffic to pass and then froze in place.
“Things went wrong when the bridge was closed,” one official said. “Perhaps a power outage was the cause. Once the power came back, nothing worked anymore.”
Cars, trucks and other motorized traffic are now forced to make a detour in order to reach Philipsburg.
Technicians are working around the clock to try to solve the problem, but so far their efforts have not resulted in any progress.
The Simpson Bay Lagoon Authority (SLAC) said that the causeway bridge experienced a technical problem on Monday afternoon when it opened to allow marine traffic to pass. When SLAC tried to return the bridge to its normal configuration to allow for motoring traffic, the mechanism would no longer function.
This week’s problems are the reverse of what happened four weeks ago. At that time, marine traffic could not pass because the bridge did not open.
Technicians from the bridge builder Hollandia arrived on island in the first week of June to replace faulty sensors in the hydraulic system.
The causeway bridge uses “complex advanced technology,” according to Hollandia. The bridge first opened in 2013.