Hole opens in freeway near Galleria
Various media outlets have reported on the large hole that opened on the West Loop near Richmond today, creating a hazard for traffic on the freeway and below.
Here is an excerpt from KHOU-11's Lee McGuire:
Drivers on the ramp from the southbound West Loop to Highway 59 got a scary surprise Monday when a chunk of freeway fell to the ground.
The hole, about 2-3 feet in diameter, mysteriously opened up in the road and went crashing onto Richmond below around 1 p.m.
Two of the three lanes on the ramp were closed until it was patched up.
Monday evening, the center lane remained blocked off, even though the hole was patched by 7 p.m. Traffic was backed up for miles well past rush hour.
“That’s kind of scary. Hope it doesn’t happen while I’m going under it,” driver Myron Blalock said.
For a while after the collapse, only orange cones marked the trouble spot.
“We are not sure what happened. We’re going to have to investigate that,” said Karen Olthon of TxDOT. “Our maintenance supervisor just happened to be in that area today at 11 o’clock this morning and drove over that lane and did not notice anything.”
That doesn't inspire much confidence.
Here's more from KTRK-13's Kevin Quinn:
Wayne Dolcefino and 13 Undercover happened to be on assignment nearby. They called police as they watched the pile of concrete on Richmond get larger and larger. They worried that someone might get hurt. It took a full 30 minutes for police to arrive and shut the street down.
"It's a little unnerving, particularly when I was walking over there to put the cones out," admitted wrecker driver Matthew Chernow. "I didn't know just how structurally sound that is."It wasn't police, though, that diverted traffic on the road above. A Safe Clear wrecker driver took it upon himself to come put out cones, to help people avoid what could have been a dangerous situation.
"If we can contribute to the safety of the citizens, that's what we're out here for," Chernow said.
No one was hurt. Richmond was completely closed to traffic for a time.
The 30-minute response time doesn't inspire much confidence either. Where was the Mayor's Elite Traffic Mobility Scooter Corps?
I cross under that stretch on Richmond on the way to work, and am thankful I wasn't greeted with a chunk of falling concrete today.
RELATED COVERAGE: KPRC-2, Chronicle.
BLOGVERSATION: Isiah Carey's InSite.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/05/07 11:40 PM | Houston Transit | Print | Comments (10)
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