Three of the four westbound lanes of James River Freeway (Highway 60) were reopened late Friday afternoon, Aug. 18, the Missouri Department of Transportation announced.
This includes the westbound ramp to northbound Glenstone Avenue.
The far right lane of Highway 60 remains closed while crews continue to work on repairs to a sinkhole that opened on Aug. 17, the Department said.
The entire westbound lanes had been shutdown late on Aug. 17, while engineers assessed the damage and risk to travel.
Our earlier story reported the closure of westbound James River Freeway (U.S. Highway 60) between U.S. Highway 65 and Glenstone Avenue — with repairs expected to take several days.
At one time, the hole extended three full traffic lanes in length, or about 36 feet, and 15 feet wide, Laurel McKean, MoDOT Assistant District Engineer, said. The plan was to drill holes in the highway lane and then fill the empty space with concrete to stabilize it, McKean said.
“Right now, we’re just in the mode of trying to get what’s opened filled so we can get the road stable, safe, get traffic back on,” McKean said.
It will be sometime next week before engineers can assess the extent of the underground damage to the highway.
“We’re hoping that the bottom doesn’t fall out because we can’t get in to explore it very well,” McKean said.
During peak commuter hours Friday morning, traffic backups extended as far south as the Fremont Hills exit off of U.S. Highway 65 in Ozark. James River Freeway will be closed until further notice, with no new updates as of 9 a.m., Regan Mitchell, MoDOT intermediate communications specialist, said by phone Friday.