Kansas Highway 99 may not fully reopen until late Thursday at the earliest after an over-height semi hit a bridge north of Emporia on Wednesday evening.
Kansas Department of Transportation spokesman Steve Ballman says crash details are still sketchy, but the early indications are a northbound semi on the Kansas Turnpike hit the K-99 bridge near Road 240 as well as several others along the Turnpike. The number and status of the other bridges hasn’t been announced, but the K-99 bridge was damaged enough to where KDOT had to close the bridge overnight and until the agency can bring special traffic control in from Seneca. Ballmann says that process could take most of Thursday but could allow at least one-lane traffic once it’s installed.
The issue is a damaged girder under the bridge. The inspection process waited until after sunrise to begin and Ballman says a structural engineer will get a close-up look Thursday morning.
No injuries were reported. The semi was hauling a tracked excavator.
8:30 pm Wednesday: Part of K-99 near Emporia remains closed after oversized semi hits bridge deck
Part of Kansas Highway 99 north of Emporia may be closed until at least sunrise Thursday after a semi crash Wednesday evening.
Lyon County Sheriff Jeff Cope tells KVOE News an oversized semi on the Kansas Turnpike hit a K-99 bridge near Road 240, about six miles north of Emporia, around 5:15 pm Wednesday. There were reports of concrete from the bridge deck hitting the Turnpike after the crash.
There are no reports of injuries currently. The crash investigation is ongoing. Additional details about the structural integrity of the bridge won’t be known until Thursday morning.
The official detour has K-99 closed to through traffic from Roads 220 north to 240, but barricades are up as far south as the Interstate 35 Merchant Street exit.
The Lyon County Highway Department is allowing through truck traffic to use Burlingame Road as a temporary detour. Through trucks are typically not allowed to use the county’s paved highways — Allen, Americus, Burlingame and Olpe-Hartford roads — because of potential structural issues on those county roads.
