Traffic jams prompt interstate reopening

Traffic jams throughout Crestview Monday prompted officials to postpone repairs to the interstate overpass on Wilkerson Bluff Road.

Traffic was backed up throughout the city today as a result of repairs to the overpass.

Eastbound lanes on Interstate 10 between Holt and Crestview were expected to be closed between three and five days. Because of heavy traffic in the city, however, Florida Department of Transportation officials decided to halt repairs and the interstate reopened at 2:55 p.m.

"We will reschedule the work for a later time after our traffic engineers look to see if there is a better way to do the repairs," FDOT spokesman Tommie Speights said.

Beginning Monday morning, eastbound traffic was diverted off the interstate at Holt and east on U.S. 90 to Mossyhead back to the interstate. Traffic backed up to Holt and up to Baker, clogging roadways throughout the city as motorists attempted to find alternate routes.

The interstate was closed while crews from F&W Construction Company, Inc., began work to replace a bridge beam on the Wilkerson Bluff Road overpass.

The overpass was damaged Feb. 10 during a fatal accident.

Crestview resident Troy A. Logan, 62, died when the dump truck he was driving struck the Wilkerson Bluff Road bridge shortly after 6 p.m., Logan was eastbound on Interstate 10 with the dump truck bed in the up position when it struck the bottom of the bridge, gouging out large pieces of concrete. The bed was ripped from the truck frame and the interstate was shut down for several hours after the accident.

Two beams on the overpass were damaged by the wreck. One beam will be replaced and the other repaired.

Speights said he did not know when the work on the overpass would resume.