BEAUMONT, Texas — The discovery of a large crack along the roadway along southbound Interstate 10 at Washington Blvd made a mess of interstate traffic passing through Beaumont on Monday for nearly 24 hours.
Just after 6:30 a.m. Tuesday morning the Texas Department of Transportation announced that all westbound lanes of Interstate 10 had reopened at Washington Blvd.
By 10:30 a.m. Tuesday all lanes of Washington Blvd were open and traffic was moving under the interstate overpass with all traffic lights at the intersection set to flashing red.
TxDOT tells 12News the widening project happening in the area and construction contributed to the pavement becoming uneven, which led to the crack.
"This tends to happen where there is construction happening," said TxDOT Beaumont District Public Information Office Tanya Avila.
Crews are putting in over-time, rushing to make emergency repairs.
"They're going to be making repairs throughout the night and as soon as they are able to they will open it back up," Avila said.
The crack was first discovered by Beaumont Police officers about 7 a.m. Monday morning while responding to a wreck in the southbound lanes near the overpass. Police then notified the Texas Department of Transportation so that they could check on the road.
By 7:40 a.m. all southbound lanes of there interstate were shut down. At one point traffic was backed up past the Eastex interchange but by midday traffic was backed up to the Maury Meyers Bridge.
12News sat down with Lamar University Civil and Environmental Professor Dr. Venki Uddameri, who believes not only construction, but rain and heat caused the crack.
"One part has water taking some of that load so it stays up and then the other part doesn't have the water so it settles down. So on top of it, as there is a widening project going on, that particular stretch is seeing more action than it normally would," he said.
Beaumont Mayor Roy West was happy to see the quick response from TxDOT crews and BPD.
"It's certainly an ongoing challenge and I know there will be. But the better we can communicate and the more of these challenges we can avoid, it will certainty make everybody happier," Mayor West said.
The road closure is affected business owners in the area. The owner of Outback Steakhouse says they've barely had customers today.
"Well we have three customers in the restaurant right now, and it's almost 12:00," said Outback Beaumont Managing Partner Tifani Brown.
The crack is not only keeping customers away, but is also making it harder for employees to get to work.
"Most of my staff had trouble getting here. I had to go off the side of the freeway just to get to work today. It's pretty bad. Very bad actually," Brown said.
The crack has also clogged the service road in front of businesses, costing them money.
"Well today there's only one way to get here and that's College to the feeder road. There's no extra highways, you can't come down Washington, there's absolutely no other way to get here. And everyone who normally takes the highway is taking those ways. So it's even harder to get here," said Brown. "So if I was a customer, I would avoid the area. Which sadly is happening."
Drivers in the bumper to bumper traffic are left frustrated and confused.
"It's real bad, I'm talking about bad. If you ain't got no A/C I feel sorry for you. Cause you're gonna be hot out here," one driver told 12News.
Even though BPD changed the service road lights to remain green, some drivers tell 12News they wish they exited sooner.
"I know I'm, not going to get there too fast. I'm just trying to get there as fast as I can. I should've took the detour back there. It told me, but I just kept on driving straight, so I've got to live with that," said one driver.
Beaumont Police say this traffic issue is expected to last a couple of days.
"That makes me sad. I mean my staff, they have families to take care of. I have a family to take care of. Everyone here has families to take care of. They're not working for fun. They love it here but they're not working for fun. They're working to pay their bills. And when there's no customers you can't do that," said Brown.
Outback hopes customers will still come to the restaurant.
Police initially said the repairs could take days and TxDOT couldn't give 12News a completion time.
BPD wants to remind drivers to stay patient and not to try to exit the highway prematurely. If you don't take a proper exit, you will get a ticket.
Drivers should use caution and expect delays on the area.
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This is a developing story. We will update with more if and when we receive more confirmed information.
