State transportation officials have shut down nighttime access to the Palm Avenue Bridge in Key West because crews are tearing up a portion of the road off North Roosevelt Boulevard for sewer and waterline work.

The bridge will be closed from 8 p.m. to until 5 a.m. tonight and Thursday, and for the same hours Monday through next Thursday, Oct. 18, said Dean Walters, a spokesman for the Florida Department of Transportation's construction project on the boulevard.

Traffic leaving Old Town via Palm Avenue will be detoured onto Eisenhower Boulevard before the bridge, and then onto North Roosevelt, said Walters.

Traffic coming into Old Town will not be allowed to turn right onto Palm Avenue, as a previous press release had indicated. Instead, the two lanes of traffic will be merged into one lane on North Roosevelt Boulevard.

In addition, traffic on First Street headed toward the intersection of North Roosevelt Boulevard and Palm Avenue will be detoured left onto North Roosevelt, Walters said.

"We are doing it at the least disruptive times," said city of Key West spokeswoman Alyson Crean. "It will remain open during the day."

Construction on the project began in April and will continue through June 2014. The $41.5 million project involves the reconstruction of the entire length of North Roosevelt Boulevard and adjacent sidewalks and seawall.

The project also includes improved drainage systems and replacing a water main originally installed by the Navy in the 1940s, said Walters. Sewer lines are being replaced, traffic signals improved and new sidewalks compliant with the Americans With Disabilities Act will line the boulevard.

tohara@keysnews.com