The closure of one of the lanes of Longbird Bridge caused "chaos" at the Airport on Thursday.

A portion of the Causeway, Longbird Bridge, has been closed to marine traffic since early May and closed to two lane traffic and heavy trucks since Wednesday.

And the Ministry of Works and Engineering and HSBC Bank of Bermuda have been in talks to fund a feasibility report on repairing the causeway — though the Government received $11 million in 2002 from the US to replace Longbird Bridge as part of the Baselands deal.

An employee at L.F. Wade International Airport said the surprise announcement on Wednesday evening that the bridge would only be open to one lane of traffic caused headaches for many.

The man, who did not wish to be named, has worked at the Airport for years and said: "There were people lining up out on to the road side. Trying to get into the US customs area was impossible. I have never seen it this bad in all my time here. I believe flights were delayed because so many people were stuck on the wrong side of the bridge. It really caused a problem at first. When I got to work midmorning there were people everywhere but it seemed that we had it under control after lunch."

New manager of the L.F. Wade International Airport, Aaron Adderley, was not available for comment yesterday.

Ministry of Works and Engineering Permanent Secretary Derrick Binns confirmed that Ministry had “discussions with the Bank regarding funds for a feasibility study for the crossing across Castle Harbour”.

Bank of Bermuda press officers were contacted but did not respond by press time.

The bridge was built by US troops more than 50 years ago and was maintained by the US troops till the late 1990s.

In August 2005 The Royal Gazette reported that the bridge would have been past its original predicated life but for a compressive rebuild done by the Ministry of Engineering in 2000 and 2001. The construction prolonged the bridge’s life by an estimated five or six years.

However the bridge was hit hard by Hurricane Fabian on September 5, 2003 and its hydraulics and computers were damaged.

In 2002 the Government was given $11 million as part of the Baselands deal signed in Washington D.C. In the deal, the US refused to pay to clean up the pollution of its two former bases, but did give the Island $11 million for the bridge, which has been plagued with mechanical problems.

In 2003 then Works and Engineering Minister Alex Scott estimated it would cost from $15m to $30 million to replace the bridge.

Dr. Binns added that he was not able to say when people would be able to use both lanes at the moment.