BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — If your commute or other plans involve the Michigan Avenue bridge, you’re going to have to reroute your travel. Tuesday morning, the bridge closed down due to construction over the next few months.

After the city delayed the closure until after Memorial Day weekend, on Tuesday, the fence and signs went up, creating a detour for many summer plans and some people’s work commutes.

Ahead of the holiday weekend, News 4 spoke with Bill Casale of Buffalo RiverWorks, just days after he found out about the closure.

He said his employees who take public transport will now have to walk a mile to work from the bus stop. Casale also said this is the second time in three years the bridge has been closed off, and four summers in a row that either the Michigan bridge or Ohio bridge has been shut down.

He said the last time the Michigan Avenue bridge was closed was during the pandemic, when the business had no big events planned throughout the summer.

That’s not the case this summer — and with one of RiverWorks’ main pathways being closed off, Casale said it is going to have an impact.

He updated News 4 today, saying the delay of the closure was extremely beneficial for this past weekend, and that they hit record crowds during the totally buffalo fest.

“The DPW is looking into and working on the possibility for the bridge to be in play for bigger events during the summer months for pedestrian traffic,” a city spokesperson said. The Music is Art Festival is among the events to which he was referring.

News 4 also heard from General Mills, who said the bridge closure has no impact on their business, and that the detour will be temporarily inconvenient, but allows access to the plant.

Detour signs are directing cars from south park to Louisiana Street, to going over the Ohio lift bridge.

According to authorities, the bridge is expected to be closed for the next three to four months, and the construction on the sub-part of the bridge has to be done during the summer months due to the water and weather.