BRIGHTON TOWNSHIP, Mich. – The eastbound lanes of I-96 are closed after a semi truck crashed into the Pleasant Valley Road overpass Wednesday during the evening commute in Brighton Township.
Officials said morning commuters will need to take a different route.
"It's like a parking lot out there," driver Carol Gourlay said.
Traffic on I-96 was backed up as far as the eye could see after a truck traveling on the highway hit a bridge sign, tearing it down. But the semi truck kept driving, bending several steel beams underneath the overpass.
"It's going to take awhile to replace that one," Kyle Hereford said. "It's a whole re-do."
Traffic crawled along the eastbound lanes Wednesday night after the crash.
Drivers fortunate enough to avoid the backup are gassing up their cars, but they're worried about what the morning commute will bring.
"I have to be somewhere at 9 a.m., and it's already congested going in," a driver said. "This is even going to add further to it."
"Probably another 10 to 15 minutes," another driver said. "But then you get backup, because everyone is going to be doing that. So more like 20 to 30 minutes."
The bridge will have to be demolished before repair. Drivers will have to have patience for the next 24 hours, if not longer.
"I call it a real big mess, and be glad if you don't have to go into Wixom or Downtown," Gourlay said. "That's what everyone out here uses."
Traffic will get by on the shoulder until 8 p.m. Thursday. That's when crews will begin to demolish the bridge.