A West Virginia Division of Highways worker uses a torch Monday morning on an expansion joint in the eastbound lanes of Interstate 64, just before the Fort Hill bridge, in Charleston.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Police shut down eastbound Interstate 64 near Exit 58 after a loose expansion joint caused more than 20 flat tires on the Fort Hill bridge Monday morning.
A Kanawha County Metro 911 dispatcher said at about 7:30 a.m. that the South Charleston Police Department was shutting down the highway so crews could make repairs. Traffic was diverted at the Oakwood Road and Montrose Drive exits. At about 8 a.m., a dispatcher said the fast lane had been reopened.
Carrie Bly, spokeswoman for the West Virginia Department of Transportation, said expansion joints “allow the bridge to move but, unfortunately, sometimes they come loose.”
“This is the bridge that carries the most traffic in the state,” she said. “That much traffic takes a toll.”
Bly said expansion joints allow the bridge to contract and expand, which is necessary to handle changing temperatures and varying traffic loads.
“It has to be able to move with the traffic…
