Removal of a barge sunken below Interstate 20 against a bridge pier was to resume today and take up to three days as crews are expected to cut up the barge and allow it to float safely away from the Mississippi River’s navigation lanes.

The highway will be open to traffic during the salvage operation led by contractor Big River Shipbuilders and Salvage, the Coast Guard said in a release Tuesday. One eastbound lane on the Louisiana side remains closed to traffic as state engineers check the stability of the structure, struck March 23 by a 30-barge tow on high water.

The waterway will close to vessel traffic once work begins and trains crossing the river on the old U.S. 80 bridge will be coordinated by a unified command of agencies in place since the barge strike, one of four on the river since March 20, including two in Vicksburg and one at Natchez. All are under investigation by the Coast Guard.

No completion date has been specified by the Coast Guard since cutting the barge emerged as the chief option in the days after the incident.

Tuesday’s release noted the salvage operation was “anticipated to last between 24-72 hours.”

Strategy sessions have involved Coast Guard, state transportation officials from Louisiana and Mississippi, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Federal Highway Administration, Vicksburg Bridge Commission and Marquette Transportation, which owned the vessels on both tows that struck bridge piers in Vicksburg.

The Mississippi River at Vicksburg stood at 41.9 feet this morning, down 0.04 foot. Flood stage is 43 feet.