You may want to avoid I-45 North Freeway southbound near Louetta on Tuesday if you can help it after an exposed metal rod created a headache for drivers during the morning commute.
It turns out, that rod is a damaged bridge expansion joint, according to the Spring Fire Department.
The joint came loose, and it’s expected to take until the afternoon to repair, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez added.
The Harris County Precinct 4 Constable’s Office first received reports of multiple vehicles damaged by metal sticking up on the road.
The fire department said dozens of cars passing over the Spring Cypress Bridge were affected. It suggests taking the Hardy Toll Road as an alternate route.
While southbound traffic is moving, two right lanes are blocked.
Just a couple of weeks earlier, a similar issue occurred on the I-10 East Freeway. According to the Texas Department of Transportation, or TxDOT, bridge expansion joints became exposed and widened in two spots along I-10 — one is near the San Jacinto River, and the other is close to Monmouth Road.
TxDOT said what happened at the time was extremely unusual.
About 10-15 vehicles’ tires were damaged after driving over the hole.
The woes continued on the North Freeway Tuesday.
In addition to the damaged expansion joint, an 18-wheeler going northbound on the freeway at Airtex hit a vehicle and rolled over into the HOV lane.
Two people inside the vehicle were taken to the hospital.
According to an update from TxDOT, a tire blew out on the trailer, which appeared to belong to Amazon.
The semi was carrying packages that are believed not to have hazardous materials, the sheriff said.
It may take a while for clean up here as well.
TxDOT will need to repair the concrete dividers once the crash is cleared. Traffic is moving for now, the sheriff added.
