Transportation officials said they won't know until this weekend whether repairs to a bridge that links New Hampshire and Maine will be enough to reopen the Piscataqua River's vital shipping lanes.

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) _ New Hampshire Department of Transportation's operations director, Bill Jannelle, said repairs should be completed sometime Saturday. But he hastened to add that they won't know if the lift mechanism is fully repaired until they try to raise the bridge.

The center span of the 73-year-old Sarah Long bridge got stuck Wednesday during a routine test.

Jannelle said the bridge malfunction is preventing cargo ships from reaching terminals upriver.

He said shipping up and down the river is critically important to New Hampshire's economy.

The Coast Guard said two deep-draft cargo ships are scheduled to arrive this weekend.

(Copyright 2013 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)