MINOT, ND ( KXNET ) — One downtown bridge may still be closed, but now people can start walking and biking across it, with the sidewalk now open.

Employees with the North Dakota Department of Transportation were in Minot to inspect the 3rd Street Bridge downtown.

The DOT has a bridge engineering division and they were taking concrete samples of the pier.

Officials say running tests on these samples will allow them to figure out how much weight the bridge can support as well as the strength of the concrete.

Minot city leaders say opening the sidewalk saves them a vehicle trip to get to the part of the community over Broadway.

“It’s a great link into northeast Minot, and with school coming up, we want to make sure that people can walk and bike across it still, to get to and from, not only school, just into the north part of the community,” said Lance Meyer, a city engineer for Minot.

Meyer says they have not gotten the test result from the DOT and he doesn’t know how long the results will take.

He adds there will likely be some repairs they will have to do to get the bridge back into service.

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