In the coming weeks workers are going to begin emergency repairs to the Braga Bridge that will be impacting traffic.

MassDOT officials are urging drivers who use the bridge to seek alternate routes soon as work to repair expansion joints gets underway.

The expansion joints are what allows the concrete and steel of the bridge to expand and contract according to the weather and the first ones on each side of the Braga Bridge are in need of emergency repairs that can't wait.

The first expansion joints on each side of the Braga Bridge are in need of emergency repairs that can't wait

Last week Massachusetts Department of Transportation lead officials Amy Getchell and Kevin Cassidy said that all of the expansion joints were to be replaced as part of the $85 million Braga repairs and underside repainting portion of the larger Route 79 project. But now comes word that the joints at the Fall River side over the first truss at Battleship Cove and at the Somerset side truss, have to be worked on immediately.

This means taking the bridge down to one travel lane for a couple of upcoming weekends.

So how soon will your commute be affected? Soon.

• About 7 p.m. on Friday, May 29, and all day Saturday and Sunday, May 30-31, the        westbound side over the bridge will be narrowed to one lane. It will reopen to two lanes at  about 5 a.m. on Monday, June 1, for the morning commute.

• Two weeks later, starting the Friday night, June 12, and continuing through the weekend  — at the same times — traffic will narrow on the eastbound side to one lane. It will reopen  Monday, June 14.

So make your travel plans accordingly.

As for the rest of the expansion joint replacement project, the MassDOT says the permanent expansion joint repairs are scheduled this fall, from September through the end of November.

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