Photos Reveal Extensive Damage to Moccasin Road Bridge
City says closure will last an extended period; detour routes connect 16th and 17th avenues
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Become a subscriberMCPHERSON, Kan. — Photos taken at the scene of last week's truck crash reveal extensive damage to the bridge carrying Northview Avenue (Moccasin Road) over Interstate 135 near mile marker 62.
A concrete support column bears the brunt of the impact, with large sections of concrete broken away and reinforcing steel exposed and bent. Cracks run up the column to where it meets the bridge cap, and concrete has broken loose at the top of the pier.
Along the northbound shoulder, a stretch of guardrail is flattened, concrete barriers are displaced and debris remains scattered at the base of the column.
The bridge will be closed for the foreseeable future while repairs are made, the City of McPherson said in a July 9 Facebook post. The Kansas Department of Transportation does not yet know how long the closure will last.
All businesses in the area remain accessible, but traffic cannot cross over I-135. The city said Kansas Avenue (U.S. 56), First Street and Mohawk Road offer alternate routes between 16th and 17th Avenue.
A truck struck the bridge July 8, according to the McPherson County Sheriff's Office, prompting a temporary closure of I-135, which reopened at 12:15 a.m. July 9. The Kansas Highway Patrol is investigating the crash.
According to the KHP crash log, the truck — a 2015 Western Star flatbed — was traveling northbound around 8 p.m. when it left the roadway to the right, striking a guardrail, a concrete barrier and the bridge pillar before rolling roughly three times and coming to rest on its passenger side.
The driver, a 32-year-old man from Lebanon, Mo., was taken to McPherson Center for Health with a suspected serious injury. The report states he was not wearing a seat belt.
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