COLCHESTER, Vt. -
Every time you go over a bridge and hear thump, thump-- that's a bridge joint. One on Interstate 89 northbound between exits 16 and 17 is patched now after multiple complaints.
"Last week we started getting reports of it getting noisy. We saw part of it was cracked, so we did the welding on it last week," said Dave Blackmore of the Vt. Transportation Agency.
That welding didn't exactly work. Vermont State Police say it caused flat tires and undercarriage damage to approximately seven vehicles after it became dislodged Tuesday night. The Transportation Agency says the bridge joint is the original that was installed when the interstate was first built over 30 years ago.
"There's lots of traffic over these joints. As they get older, they show signs of stress," Blackmore said.
The state says they won't have a permanent fix for this bridge until spring when the weather warms up. And when they do work on the bridge joint it will take several weeks and will cause big delays.
