Interstate 24 Lane Remains Closed After Bridge Accident

Traffic has been seriously tied up in Marion County on Interstate 24 for the past day or so.This after a truck carrying moving equipment crashed into the bridge near Kimball. NewsChannel 9's Erica Green went back to the scene today for the emergency repairs.

Tshould be back to normal Saturday. The Tennessee Department of Transportation says they see these kinds of accidents often but not with damage like this.

Tennessee Highway Patrol says a tractor trailer with a earth moving equipment, or a track hoe, hit the interior beams of a bridge under interstate 24 near Kimball.

It happened Thursday around 4 central time.TDOT crews are now working around the clock to repair the damage and traffic is backed up traveling westbound for about 5 miles and counting.

" We usually don't have a beam that's taken out like this especially in the center. Usually not it's an outside beam so we did have to shut down traffic because there was an interior beam it caused us a lot of problems," said Steve Hutchings, a bridge engineer with TDOT.

TDOT workers say the driver hit the beams going and that impact is like a cannon ball going into a cement wall. The tension cables broke and the lanes had to be shut down because it couldn't hold the weight of the cars.

"Once those cables are broken you're lost that structural capacity..we'll have to do some sort of repair to stiffen up those beams usually with a steel plate surrounding the beam with 22 plates," said Hutchings.

If it turns out the plates don't hold, TDOT will have to replace the beams and shut down the bridge..causing even more traffic issues. Crews warn truckers to pay attention to these signs..

In this case they believe the driver didn't feel that he hit the bells which meant his truck was too tall to pass under the bridge. Drivers say they feel safe driving thru while crews fix the damage.

"If they find it safe enough to drive under I think I trust their judgement until I see otherwise. But if whatever doubts they have they need to shut it down," said Jace White, who was driving to Kentucky.

But some drivers say they hit a wall of traffic on Friday afternoon. Many say they'd like more warning of what's ahead and feel there weren't enough signs along the interstate about the accident and lane closures.

TDOT workers say they hope to have the bridge fixed by midnight tonight so they can reopen that lane. But it could take them until noon tomorrow to have it all cleaned up.