TDOT workers clear away brush and debris from an I-24 overpass in between Broad Street and the Highway 27 split on Sunday, Jan. 24, 2016, in Chattanooga, Tenn. According to TDOT, one eastbound lane will be closed until bridge workers can make repairs after workers fixing potholes found a broken deck panel and slab on the bridge.Traffic was slowed on a four-lane stretch of eastbound Interstate 24 on Sunday afternoon as Tennessee Department of Transportation workers closed a lane and began preparing for an emergency bridge repair.
A routine round of pothole maintenance on Sunday led to the discovery that will require TDOT to hire a contractor to repair a heavily used portion of freeway near mile marker 178 and the U.S. Highway 27 split downtown.
TDOT community relations director Jennifer Flynn said the problem is a broken panel and slab on a bridge deck.
The lane will remain closed until some time today, when a crew will put a plate over the damaged section of interstate, making the stretch drivable until repairs begin later in the week.
"We usually do emergency contracts for things rock slides and sinkholes," Flynn said. "It's just something we do whenever there's something that comes along that we need to take care of quickly."
TDOT regional construction manager Ken Flynn said drivers should expect delays when the repair begins, The work should take about a week, he said.
"Hopefully the weather will cooperate," Jennifer Flynn said. The damage was likely due to a combination of weather and the bridge's age.
Weather has also slowed the early stages of the $126.3 million U.S. 27 rebuild that has congested the downtown freeway system this month.
Jennifer Flynn also said a concrete pour on Shepherd Road was rescheduled twice because of recent wet weather.
Contact staff writer David Cobb at dcobb@ timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6249.