Crews working through the night Saturday on scheduled repairs to a bridge on Interstate 81 finished shortly after noon on Sunday.

From 10 p.m. Saturday night until the bridge was reopened on Sunday, northbound traffic had to leave the interstate highway at the Bulls Gap-Greeneville off-ramp at Exit 23, cross U.S. Highway 11E and then get back on the on-ramp to continue north on I-81.

Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) spokesman Travis Brickey said this morning that the repair of one crack in one of five beams supporting the northbound bridge "was a little bit more difficult to repair than was first thought."

Brickey said once crews were working, they had no choice but to continue until the repairs were completed. He said repairs were completed by 12:30 p.m. on Sunday.

Brickey said TDOT went ahead and completed the repairs while crews were in place and law enforcement was on hand to direct traffic, because rescheduling would have been difficult and would have increased costs.

Public safety was never at risk from the cracks, Brickey said.

If the cracks had been left unrepaired, however, eventually the 48-inch beam with the cracks would have failed, Brickey said. But even then, "The bridge would not have fallen down," because of the structure's "redundant" design.

Brickey noted that each bridge is supported by five such beams.

No traffic backups took place on I-81 during the night, but some backups were experienced by northbound motorists by mid-morning on Sunday. Southbound traffic on I-81 was not affected.

Crews worked to repair two small metal fatigue cracks that were found during scheduled maintenance earlier this fall.

TDOT Chief Engineer Paul Degges said last week that enlarged crews from General Constructors, of Mt. Juliet, Tenn., were to be on hand.

The Greene County sheriff's deputies assisted the Tennessee Highway Patrol in directing traffic.

Repairs to one crack in the southbound bridge at exit 23 are expected to be repaired this coming Saturday night.

TDOT expects to close the southbound bridge on I-81 at Exit 23 at 10 p.m. Saturday night, Nov. 21, and reopen it at 10 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 22.

During that period, southbound traffic will have to leave I-81 at Exit 23, then immediately return to the interstate using the on-ramp. Northbound traffic is not expected to be affected.

TDOT officials said last week that they expect the southbound repair may take less than 12 hours to complete.