A major road closure is now in effect in southern Martin County, where the bridge at Southeast County Line Road is closed for a year-long reconstruction project.
The detour could add several minutes to daily drives, so officials are urging commuters to plan ahead or find an alternate route.
George May lives just off Southeast County Line Road, where a road block is now notifying drivers to turn around.
"It'll be inconvenient, for sure. People commuting to work and people that live in little club," May said.
May said the road closure is going to take some getting used to.
"I already drive over an hour to work everyday. It'll probably add about 20 minutes to my commute," May said.
Martin County says the bridge will be closed for a year, with a lot of work ahead.
"There are a lot of utilities ther," Mark Aveni, Martin County public works deputy director, said. "There's a lot of coordination that needs to occur. We're removing a pedestrian bridge and we're going to repurpose that somewhere else and unfortunately these things just take time."
Despite the closure, residents say they're glad to see the investment.
"There were large cracks under the bridge. It was deteriorating," May said.
"It's a little bit of an inconvenience but I'm happy for that to have a new bridge and have better infrastructure in the area," Daniel Von said.
Six of the project's $7 million price tag is covered by state and federal grants. The new bridge will be two feet higher and built to be safer and more resilient.
"We're replacing it with a very resilient type of rebar that's going to be safer. There is a very sharp curve before that bridge, we're going to totally eliminate that and soften the curve. It'll also be much safer for pedestrians," Aveni said.
Residents are now hoping the project will go on without delays.
"I'm fine with it as long as they keep the project on schedule," May said.
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