A chunk of concrete from the I-20 bridge construction falls and strikes passing vehicle

Monday afternoon, a chunk of concrete fell off the I-20 bridge over Clay Street and struck a vehicle, causing minor damage.

“It was a softball-sized chunk of concrete that fell off from the vibration on the bridge,” explained project engineer Eric Morgan with MDOT. “It hit the hood and didn’t do much damage.”

In response, MDOT changed the process for removing the old concrete railings on the bridge.

After the incident on Monday, construction crews were stopping traffic while working the jackhammers and heavy equipment that may cause the bridge to vibrate like it did when the softball-sized chunk of concrete fell. Today, they stopped all the equipment moving on the bridge while traffic was going under the bridge. “They tried to keep it to like 5 minutes where they would stop traffic and do the jack-hammering,” explained Morgan. “They got the rest of that rail off today.”

Crews have been working to remove the old concrete guardrails on all the overpasses near Clay and replace them with new guardrails. The project is expected to last another few months before they move onto the next phase of upgrading the entrances and exits to I-20 in Warren County.