Staff report

The Rainbow Bridge opened Thursday morning and, with it, traffic on Highway 73 in Port Arthur returned to normal.

Until it closed again.

Thursday morning traffic on Highway 73 returned to its regular route.

According to Texas Department of Transportation spokesperson Sarah Dupre, the bridge had been closed by the Department of Public Safety because water was over the road around Rainbow Bridge. With that bridge closed, Veterans Bridge had been serving both lanes of traffic and so Highway 73 in Port Arthur was diverted to make way for the oncoming vehicles.

The diversion caused backup and severe delays.

While there was still a bit of water on the Port Arthur side of Rainbow Bridge Thursday morning, cars were able to pass through it and traffic appeared to be flowing at normal speeds on Highway 73.

However, by the afternoon, water had once again risen over Rainbow Bridge road forcing its closure.