The long-awaited completion of the Eva Road bridge project took a major step towards completion Tuesday as workers installed the bridge.

There are still a few months of work to be done on the road and area surrounding the bridge, but the 17 pieces of the bridge installed Tuesday make up the bulk of the work that is needed for the bridge construction, said Tom Charney, risk management director for the City of Cullman.

“Eighty percent of it will be done tonight,” he said during the bridge’s installation Tuesday morning.

The work to replace the old Eva Road bridge began last November, which means one of the city’s connectors to Alabama 157 has been closed in the meantime, but the road is on schedule to reopen at the end of October or the first of November, Charney said.

“We’re ahead of schedule and we’re doing really well,” he said.

The old bridge was rated at 47 out of a scale of 100 in safety about three years ago, and small cracks in the foundation and the awkward layout of the narrow bridge made it a priority for replacement. The project also includes some roadwork that is needed to take out what officials have described as an awkward curve in the road leading to the bridge.

Once it is completed, it will be officially named the Hugh P. Brindley Sr. Memorial Bridge in recognition of the local businessman that helped lead a campaign for the construction of the original Eva bridge.

Alabama Transportation Rehabilitation and Improvement Program (ATRIP) money totaling $2.6 million is the main funding for the project. The city is paying a matching share of nearly $1 million.