STYX RIVER — Loxley Police are pursuing leads into an incident that occurred Tuesday night around 9 p.m. on County Road 68 North at the “Steel Bridge” in the Styx River community north of Interstate 10.

According to a Loxley PD press release and Baldwin County Highway Department officials, someone gained access to an excavator tractor located at the construction site, and proceeded to tear away a wooden portion of the south side of the bridge from the roadway making the road impassable. Construction crews with Racon, Inc., the bridge contractor, have been working since April at this site to replace the bridge with a new one.

Loxley Police Lt. Doug Phillips said the incident appeared to be intentional and if caught, the involved party or parties would face a felony charge of some sort like reckless endangerment or criminal mischief.

“This person obviously had to have knowledge about how to operate the equipment. The keys for this type of tractor are universal and anyone who works in the construction field would have access to them,” Phillips said.

With only concrete pilings up at the new bridge, there is no way for the 60 plus families living in the area by Old Brady Rd. to get across the river from either side, Phillips said, and they would have to travel 40 or so miles up to Bay Minette to get out of the area.

Baldwin County highway officials and crews were on the scene Wednesday afternoon removing the damaged timbers and replacing them with new timbers to get the road passable again. They worked through the night to get the structure in place and up and running, according to county officials.

Joey Nunnally, Construction Engineer for the county, said this incident should not affect the time schedule for getting the new bridge completed by July.

Phillips encourages anyone who has any information about the incident to contact the Loxley Police Department at (251) 964-6000.