Tire tread on line causes I-70 closure

Both lanes of eastbound Interstate 70 will be closed at Range Line Street in Columbia this morning.

The Missouri Department of Transportation said in a tweet that I-70 will be closed at mile marker 127 for emergency repairs by a utility company. The closure will last no longer than 15 minutes, MoDOT said.

The closure started at about 10 a.m.

MoDOT Central District spokeswoman Lisa Cox said the Columbia Police Department will shut down the lanes while a utility company removes a tire from an electric transmission line. The closure should last about 15 minutes, she said.

Fred Eaton, electric distribution manager for Columbia Water and Light, said the line ties the city’s power plant substation to a Central Electric substation. A Water and Light employee noticed tire tread hanging from a conductor, Eaton wrote in an email, but it wasn’t clear how it got there.

#I70ALERT: Both eastbound lanes will be closed at mile marker 127 (Route 763/Rangeline Street) in Columbia at 9:30am TODAY for emergency repairs by a utility company. The closure should last no more than 15 minutes. pic.twitter.com/3lpVSAtg7y

— MoDOT Central Dist (@MoDOT_Central) October 4, 2018