The Lake Champlain Bridge connecting Crown Point, NY to Chimney Point, Vt. will be restricted to one-way travel, the state Department of Transportation announced today.

The work will incorporate the use of a temporary signal system to control one-way alternating traffic operations anticipated to begin Friday, July 3rd.

The work comes after an inspection in June revealed several areas of steel deterioration to the bridge's truss system.

Work includes: reducing the weight posting on the bridge to 40 tons, the legal maximum load on a New York state bridge without a special permit. Legally-loaded tractor trailers will be permitted to use the bridge; overweight vehicles will be prohibited.

The Lake Champlain Bridge, built in 1929, consists of 14 spans totaling 2,184 feet. It is made up of a combination of a thru-truss, deck-truss and deck plate girders.  It accommodates approximately 3,400 vehicles per average day.

The state transportation departments for both New York and Vermont are discussing a project to either rehabilitate or replace the bridge, beginning in 2013.