The Don Holt Bridge on the I-526 connecting Charleston and North Charleston was closed off to commuters from either direction on Thursday, creating traffic snarls in the area.
Local media reports said that eastbound traffic was blocked at Virginia Avenue, while westbound traffic came to standstill at Clements Ferry Road.
The closure had been announced early on Thursday at around 3.30 am, and had stretched into a few hours by the time of publication.
Why is the Don Holt Bridge closed?
Despite it having been hours since the announcement of the closure, there is still no clarity on why the bridge has been shut down for commuters.
Local media reports citing the police said that authorities had merely attributed the closure to an "incident", without furnishing further details.
The South Carolina Department of Transportation, meanwhile, said the closure was due to an "obstruction in the roadway".
The nature of said obstruction was not clarified.
Later in the day, local media reports citing elected officials reported that the bridge had been shut down to prevent a man from dying by suicide.
Videos shared on social media also showed police personnel rescuing the man, nearly nine hours after the bridge closed. (TRIGGER WARNING: An incident related to self-harm is shown below)
Mint could not independently verify the video.
When will the Don Holt Bridge reopen?
There was no update from authorities on when the Don Holt Bridge is expected to reopen.
An update at 11.30 am local time stated that the bridge was still closed, with no word on a reopening time.
Drivers have been advised to seek alternative routes for commuting.
Tens of thousands of cars, and roughly 2,000 to 5,000 heavy trucks reportedly use the bridge daily.
How social media reacted
Netizens primarily expressed confusion on social media, with many raising questions over why no update had been issued on the reason behind closure, which had stretched beyond five hours at the time of writing this.
"The Don Holt Bridge which is within a couple of miles from where I’m staying has been closed in both directions since 3:30AM with sketchy contradictory reports!! I can hear sirens and traffic is being diverted in both directions. Reports of an “ongoing incident” and “roadway obstruction!” But now reports of DOT cameras showing no roadway obstruction!! (sic)," wrote one user on social media platform X.
Others, meanwhile, suggested that a suicide could be behind the prolonged closure: “Since they state 'incident' and not 'accident' I'm thinking it's possibly a suicide type situation. Not purely speculating on my part. Odd that the whole bridge is shut down,” reasoned a user on X.
However, some netizens suggested that the bridge, being an accident prone area, could have also seen a crash.
"The Don Holt has frequent 18 wheeler / car accidents given its close proximity to the Wando Port Authority and people disregarding the truckers when they need to merge back on before the bridge ends (sic)," wrote a user.
Photos on social media showed long queues of cars on the road.
There were widespread complaints about traffic delays as well.
