U.S. 60 Still Closed In Tempe, McClintock Drive Overpass Reopened

TEMPE, AZ — The McClintock Drive overpass that spans U.S. 60 in Tempe was partially reopened Wednesday afternoon, according to the city. Reconstruction might start on U.S. 60 Thursday, to repair the portions of pavement damaged by a water transmission line break on Saturday, but there are still no estimates as to when the highway will reopen.

The overpass was completely closed Wednesday morning while structural engineers from the Arizona Department of Transportation inspected possible cracks from settling in some of the bridge column supports where there had been standing water from the burst water line.

The city is maintaining partial restrictions on the overpass, with two northbound lanes open and one southbound lane open, according to a news release from Tempe. The city does not have an estimate for when the overpass will be completely reopened. Tempe is adjusting signal timing across the city in an attempt to try to keep traffic flowing, and police will be in the area to assist in managing traffic.

The city and the department of transportation hoped to begin pouring concrete Thursday to replace the damaged eastbound U.S. 60 HOV lane at the McClintock exit. The two entities promised to release reopening times for the eastbound lanes as soon as possible.

The department and the city are still working on reconstruction plans to U.S. 60's westbound lanes at McClintock.

Tempe officials initially said on Saturday that the transmission line had burst beneath U.S. 60, but clarified on Monday that the busted line was actually north of the highway, between a pedestrian bridge and the McClintock overpass. The burst line was more than 20 feet underground, and crews just found it on Monday, according to Tara Ford, Tempe's interim municipal utilities director. Around 8 million gallons of water spilled out before the city could stop the leak.

The burst pipe was a steel cylinder around 50 years old, and had an estimated lifespan of around 75 years, according to city officials. The city is still working to determine what caused the pipe to burst.