MoDOT mistakenly reopens Grand Boulevard Bridge, then closes it again

The Grand Boulevard Bridge over Interstate 670 mistakenly was reopened Friday night after being closed earlier in the day — and then was shut down again Saturday afternoon.

The reopening was the result of miscommunications between a maintenance supervisor with the Missouri Department of Transportation and a maintenance crew, officials said.

A routine inspection earlier Friday revealed a 20-foot-plus crack, prompting MoDOT to close the bridge, which is near the Sprint Center.

An emergency response crew scrambled Saturday to again block both ends of the bridge on Grand Boulevard at Truman Road.

“At no point was anyone in the public at risk because the stress fractures beneath the bridge were shored up Friday,” said Brian Kidwell, the assistant district engineer for the agency in Kansas City.

“It was a conversation between a maintenance supervisor and maintenance crew who apparently misunderstood one another.”

The barriers were back in place by 1:30 p.m. Saturday.

On Friday, Kidwell said the bridge was in need of significant repairs or should be replaced. It was built in 1963.

It appears water may have seeped into the interior of the bridge. Large chunks of concrete had begun to flake away.

Around midday Friday, crews shut down all vehicle and pedestrian traffic on the bridge. Foot traffic reopened by Friday afternoon but was closed Saturday afternoon.

This story was originally published May 7, 2016 at 1:37 PM with the headline "MoDOT mistakenly reopens Grand Boulevard Bridge, then closes it again."