Flood-Damaged I-70 Shutdown Causes Travel Havoc

CLOVERDALE, Ind. -- The near-collapse of a flood-ravaged portion of Interstate 70 in Putnam County continued to cause havoc for westbound traffic on Monday.

The Indiana Department of Transportation kept that side of the road closed for the majority of two days, but it reopened late , 6News' Norman Cox reported.

By mid-afternoon Monday, there was an 8.5-mile backup of traffic that had been diverted from I-70 to U.S. 40 at the Cloverdale exit. More than 40,000 motorists used that stretch of I-70 each day.

"It's the third traffic jam we've been in in Indiana," said one motorist. "It's taken us four hours to cover about 100 miles."

As torrential rain fell for several hours early Saturday morning, a foot or more of water rushed over the interstate at mile marker 30. The rain overwhelmed two culverts that go under the highway.

When the water receded, INDOT engineers found serious damage underneath the road, with much of the supporting dirt washed away.

"We've been working to repair this area since that time," said Debbie Calder, of INDOT.

The road did not collapse, but it could have if anything heavy drove over it. Workers rebuilt the supporting soil and put down new asphalt Monday, then waited for the pavement to harden.

Westbound lanes were open for a short time on Sunday before INDOT had to close it again.

"We thought we had ample cooling and curing on the asphalt, but it rutted after we opened traffic," said Larry Vaughan, INDOT district maintenance supervisor.

Officials hoped the latest repair would be permanent.