ADAMS COUNTY, Colo. -- The Colorado Department of Transportation has closed the 104th Avenue (State Highway 44) bridge over the South Platte River due to safety concerns regarding the condition of the bridge.

The closure began at 5 p.m. Monday.

"In a recent inspection, we discovered that much of the concrete has deteriorated around the pier caps and girders along one span of the bridge," said CDOT bridge engineer Mark Leonard. "For the safety of the traveling public, we are closing the bridge to all traffic until we can make the appropriate repairs, which will include removing the deteriorated concrete and pouring new concrete to stabilize the bridge span."

The bridge was built in 1965 and scored 49 out of 100 on the state's structurally deficient list but was not on the CDOT top 10 worst bridges list.

Gene Putman, Thornton Transportation Manager, said this bridge is one of the worst in Adams County.

"See those steel supports? They were put in place to help give the bridge some support. They were supposed to be a five-year fix but they've been in place for eight years now," Putman said.

Putman said over 24,000 vehicles travel over the bridge every day, many of them heading to or from Denver International Airport.

RTD's AA SkyRide route to DIA also uses the 104th Avenue bridge and will have a delayed schedule because it will have to use the 88th Avenue detour.

Until the repairs are made, 104th Avenue will be closed between Colorado Boulevard and US 85.

Local traffic will be allowed beyond the closure point up to the bridge, but will not be allowed to cross the bridge over the South Platte River, CDOT said. Motorists will be detoured along Colorado Boulevard or US 85 and Interstate 76 to 88th Avenue.

The bridge repairs are expected to begin after CDOT has a contractor in place, which could take up to three weeks. The repairs are expected to take about two weeks and could cost $200,000 and $250,000 to complete. Still, it's only a temporary fix that would take the bridge into the next year.

CDOT said funding is increasing thanks to higher vehicle regisration fees but the bridge alone would cost roughly $55 million to replace.

7NEWS has learned it was a federal highway administration inspection two weeks ago -- one month ahead of schedule -- that prompted Monday's indefinite closure.

"This bridge would've been caught next month as part of its regular inspections. And something would've changed then. So we just feel like we're being proactive by closing it now," said CDOT spokeswoman Stacey Stegman.

Putman calls the timing of the closure and repair a bad dream come true.

"Next week is Thanksgiving! One of the biggest travel times we have. A month later we have Christmas," Putman said. "And this is going to be a major disruption."