GEARY COUNTY —  The bridge that carries Interstate 70 eastbound in Geary County over Clarks Creek is open again.

KDOT closed the bridge and detoured drivers after they found debris from a previous overlay that needed cleaned up and patched.

KDOT opened the bridge late Tuesday. There are no reports of any accidents or injuries.

—————————

UPDATE:

KDOT has tweeted that engineers have assessed the Clarks Creek bridge over interstate 70 adnd it is structurally sound. The debris on the bridge is from an old pavement overlay that will be cleaned up and patched. The bridge will reopen tonight ( Tuesday night ).

—

According to the Kansas Highway Patrol as of 5:20 p.m. an effort was being made to patch the interstate where the concrete crumbling has occurred. It is unknown how long the eastbound lanes of I-70 will have to remain closed at the location near the Clarks Creek bridge.

Eastbound traffic is still being diverted off of the interstate at the 303 exit and onto K-18 Highway.

—

Late Tuesday afternoon traffic continued to be diverted off eastbound I-70 onto K-18 Highway at the 303 exit. The traffic backup was about three-quarters of a mile long.

Geary County Sheriff Tony Wolf reported that it appeared some of the concrete on the bridge deck was breaking away. ” I spoke with some of the guys from KDOT. They believe it’s what they call delamination where the very upper levels of the concrete on the deck of the bridge heated up in the sunshine. It was the traffic driving over it that actually broke the concrete up. It looks a lot like gravel laying there on the deck of the bridge.”

Eastbound traffic is being diverted onto K-18 where motorists can travel into Manhattan and then can get back on K-177 and travel south back to the interstate.

—

The Kansas Highway Patrol is diverting eastbound traffic on Interstate 70 to exit 303 at K-18 Highway. That location is about 7 miles east of Junction City.

Geary County Emergency Management Director Garry Berges said KHP and KDOT are on I-70 between exits 303 and 304 where one of the bridges on the eastbound lanes has an issue. Eastbound traffic is being diverted off the interstate onto K-18 into Manhattan and then back south on K-177 to the interstate where traffic can then travel east again.

No injuries have been reported.

The Northeast Kansas Regional Notification System provided the information.