Kansas City bridge that carries 94,000 commuters daily closed

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- State highway officials are investigating why sections of a bridge that carries 94,000 vehicles a day suddenly buckled, making the bridge impassable.

The Paseo Bridge, which connects downtown with the city's northern half and suburbs via Interstate 35-29, was closed during rush hour Wednesday and Thursday morning, resulting in massive backups of commuters.

Darkness and bitterly cold temperatures prevented highway engineers from more closely examining the bridge Wednesday night.

On Thursday, the Missouri Department of Transportation said the nearly 50-year-old bridge would be closed at least a week while workers repair it.

The bridge itself was not considered at risk, said Joel Blobaum, a department spokesman.

Highway department engineers said one section of the bridge's south end rose about 9 inches above another at a serrated metal expansion joint embedded in the pavement.

Inspectors determined that the metal plates that help connect the bridge and its approaches fractured, Blobaum said. Cold weather, as well as wear and tear, likely contributed to the break.

Crews will have to remove and replace damaged plates and inspect other connections on the bridge before it reopens, the department said.

"Keeping traffic off the bridge will allows us to work around the clock and reopen it as soon as we possibly can," said Beth Wright, an engineer with the transportation department. "This will also prevent further damage to the bridge."

Motorists were the first to notice the problem Wednesday when their tires slammed against the raised section. Guardrails along both sides of the joint also had bent and snapped, as did the median between the north and southbound lanes.

Sabin Yanez, a district engineer for the highway department, said the bridge was closed because of safety concerns.

Last summer, highway department crews did an in-depth inspection of the main suspension part of the bridge. That work is ongoing, Yanez said, but inspectors found no serious damage to the bridge.

The highway department has the Paseo Bridge slated for rehabilitation in late 2005 and early 2006.

Steven McCabe, a professor of civil engineering at the University of Kansas, thought Wednesday's bitter cold was the likely culprit.

As the temperature drop, bridges often contract, and that can stress the structure, creating the potential for cracks and breaks, he said. He doubted a fix would take long.

"It's not going to be a gigantic problem," McCabe said.