Traffic will continue to be restricted to one lane on I-24 East near the Caldwell-Lyon County line for several days after the highway was damaged Wednesday morning by a semi fire.
The truck was hauling soybean oil and the fire near the 55 mile-marker caused significant damage to the concrete pavement, according to the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet.
The damage to the driving surface is along a 13-mile section of I-24 that had been open on new concrete pavement for just over a week.
Kentucky Transportation Cabinet engineers have determined the damage along the section of new concrete pavement is too severe to allow temporary repairs to the driving lane.That has forced I-24 eastbound traffic to be limited to one-lane with all traffic moved to the left-hand or passing lane.
Eastbound traffic will remain one lane with plans for the contractor to return to the site of the fire and do a full repair starting around January 4.
Eastbound motorists on I-24 should be alert for slowing and merging traffic as they approach the 50 mile marker and that could cause some backups, especially during the holiday traveling period.