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Source: San Antonio Express-NewsAug.迷你倉沙田 16--Crews are picking up debris and preparing to brace the Henderson Pass bridge at U.S. 281 after a southbound 18-wheeler slammed into the overpass Wednesday afternoon.The southbound lanes on 281 headed toward downtown are closed at Henderson Pass and the northbound exit ramp onto Loop 1604 from 281 also is shut.Officials with the Texas Department of Transportation said the road likely will remain closed at least until Friday night as crews prepare to position a large beam over the top of the bridge to brace it from the top using a so-called "strongback" technique.The fix is temporary so the highway's normally busy southbound lanes can reopen quickly, said TxDOT spokesman Josh Donat. But before the beam is installed, workers must finish cleaning up broken concrete from the ground and underneath the bridge."This strongback option isn't a permanent solution," Donat said. "What it allows us to do is safely reopen traffic lanes so that we can evaluate further. Right now, our focus is getting this reopened."Donat said it was too early to speculate what those permanent solutions might be.Traffic could be seen building up along the southbound frontage road Thursday morning, though by 7:30, it appeared to be moving quickly.A series of tweets on the Twitter page of the Texas Department of Transportation's San Antonio office urged motorists to find any alternate route -- such as Blanco or Bulverde roads -- until the damage is repaired.The road's northbound lanes seemed unaffected.Commuters like Rita Dominguez and Stephanie Worthy were delayed slightly by the heavier traffic, but didn't seem to mind much. After their overnight shift ended at a nearby Walmart, the pair drove to a restaurant by the highway to wait out the morning traffic, which was heaviest about 7 a.m."We ate some tacos and waited for the traffic to stop. We'd much rather be in bed right now," Dominguez said. "As long as we get home."Some restaurant owners along the highway said they saw a lull in business Thursday morning because potential customers avoided the area. Jose Valdez, general manager at a Las Palapas next to the wreck site, blamed the closure for a $2,000 loss in sales Wednesday."The line's usually out the front door right now," Valdez said early Thursday. "I just hope it gets resolved soon."Mike Wahl, a manager at a nearby Bill Miller Bar-B-Q, said the usually packed restaurant had about half as many customers early Thursday.Area businesses had been enjoying months of relief from construction delays that lasted more than a year at the U.S. 2迷你倉價錢1-Loop 1604 interchange."Now there's this mess again," Valdez said. "We have to get back to business."As of Thursday morning, police had not yet released a crash report on the incident, and the driver and owner of the big rig had not yet been identified. TxDOT officials said it was not yet clear whether either would face any fines following the crash, citing an ongoing police investigation.Donat said "taxpayers won't be picking up the tab" for repairs, saying that the department has "mechanisms in place to cover those costs," though could not specify early Thursday where the funding would come from.It's not clear how fast the 18-wheeler was traveling when the wreck happened about noon Wednesday, but the impact broke off chunks of concrete from the overpass, exposing some of the rebar.Debris was scattered across the highway, forcing southbound traffic to be diverted, and the portion of the truck bed that hit the overpass was left crumpled on the side of the road.Two VIA bus routes, 6 and 648, will continue to run on schedule, with diversions factored into their route, according to Priscilla Ingle, a spokeswoman for VIA Metropolitan Transit."They'll just be delayed because they'll have to get off (281)," Ingle said, "and then get back on route when they can."Because of the heavy flow of traffic in the area, delays can be expected even on alternate routes.According to 2011 TxDOT data, 150,000 vehicles per day travel through that stretch of U.S. 281 heading both directions."When you figure that 150,000 people through there and you're moving a lot of that traffic to other locations for a few days, yeah, there are going to be a few delays," Donat said. "But we're focused on getting this reopened."This isn't the first time a bridge over U.S. 281 has been hit by a truck. When a truck hit a bridge column in 2008, it took nearly two weeks to repair the damage.In March 2012, another wreck took place on U.S. 281 at the Nakoma Street exit when a gondola trailer crashed into an overpass and disrupted the commute home on a Friday night.The truck driver told officers the cylinder connected to the lift that raised and lowered the trailer somehow malfunctioned.Although the truck in the 2012 wreck was similar to the truck in Wednesday's crash, it was unclear if the same malfunction was to blame for the latest accident.Staff writer David G. Palacio contributed to this reportaley@express-news.netTwitter: @aley_ENCopyright: ___ (c)2013 the San Antonio Express-News Visit the San Antonio Express-News at .mysanantonio.com Distributed by MCT Information Services迷你倉庫