The Martin Luther King, Jr. Bridge will remain closed to traffic indefinitely -- at least until Saturday morning, perhaps longer -- because of a recurring malfunction that has caused it to become stuck twice this week while opening for ships, a city official said today.

David Welch, Toledo’s commissioner of streets, bridges, and harbor, said at 4 p.m. that with the malfunctions’ cause remained unknown, the bridge’s drawspans would remain raised until the problem is solved or after a freighter expected to sail up the Maumee River on Saturday morning passes through.

As it did Tuesday morning, the King’s East Toledo leaf became stuck, after lifting about one quarter of the way, during an opening today for a different freighter also headed upriver to load grain. Mr. Welch said a bridge opening earlier today for a downbound freighter was uneventful, which made the breakdown later in the morning even more mysterious.

Officials do not want to lower the bridge and then have it become stuck closed when a freighter needs to go through. Mr. Welch said raising the balky span today took two hours using an auxiliary motor that “was getting to the point at which it was about ready to burn out.”

No formal detour route is posted, but the closest alternative for vehicular traffic is the Craig Memorial Bridge. The Anthony Wayne Bridge, next upstream from the King, remains closed for major overhaul and is not capable of being reopened temporarily.

While built in 1910, the bridge underwent extensive renovation between 2002 and 2008, including replacement of its drawspans and electrical control equipment during the latter half of that work. But Mr. Welch said Tuesday that there continued to be “gremlins” needing repair since that project’s completion.

First Published December 5, 2014, 8:43 p.m.