On October 16, 1972, it was announced that NJDOT engineers would have to submit plans by October 25 to fix the broken lift structure. By this point, there was no certain day on when the new bridge would reopen. Engineers announced on October 27 that the bridge was likely failing to close because of lack of weight on the structure. Their proposals were to add weight to the structure to help it close properly. They were not sure how long this project improvement would take, requiring continued use of the old bridge. These problems were finally corrected in December 1972, and the bridge finally reopened to traffic on December 14 at 3:00 pm.