SAN ANTONIO – Following an emergency closure due to pavement failure on Interstate 10, the Texas Department of Transportation hopes to reopen the right westbound lane of I-10 by the end of Wednesday.
TxDOT public information officer Josh Donat told KSAT.com that crews figured out the problem and are currently working on the temporary fix.
Crews with @flatironcorp are building a dirt wall to hold in place the temporary retaining wall that was giving way. They’ll also fill in the cracks on the road. Should have I-10 back to two lanes by the end of today. pic.twitter.com/EBmOcy0OVq
— TxDOT San Antonio (@TxDOTSanAntonio) May 9, 2018
"(The fix) is called 'temporary shoring.' That's an engineering term. The non-engineering term is piling a whole bunch of dirt on the side of the road up against the side of the road," Donat said.
ORIGINAL STORY: Photos show pavement failure that caused major lane closure on I-10 on NW side
On Tuesday, TxDOT announced that crews closed a stretch of I-10 between Boerne Stage and Ralph Fair roads for "safety reasons."
EMERGENCY CLOSURE: Right lane of westbound (outbound) I-10 between Boerne Stage Road and Ralph Fair Road. We have a pavement failure and need to close the lane for safety reasons. This closure is anticipated to last through the end of the week. We are discussing options now.
— TxDOT San Antonio (@TxDOTSanAntonio) May 8, 2018
TxDOT attributed the closure to "longitudinal cracking," and tweeted photos of the roadway. While the cracks in the photos seemed minor, TxDOT said "they've been getting progressively worse the last couple of weeks."
Donat said crews are going to fill the cracks with grout to allow TxDOT to reopen the lane back up to traffic.
The area of the closure is also part of the construction to expand I-10, which is the long-term fix, Donat said.