The boom of a track hoe excavator juts up through the Hall Street overpass early Tuesday evening, Feb. 14, 2006, in Hays, Kan., as a group of spectators checks out the scene. The excavator was driven through the concrete Monday night when it was being carried on a tractor-trailer traveling east on Interstate 70 and it struck the bridge.

Hays ? Eastbound traffic on Interstate 70 near Hays will have to endure a nine-mile detour, after a piece of construction equipment damaged a 45-foot section of an overpass.

Officials with the Kansas Department of Transportation expect an emergency repair of the bridge to be done by March 1. The detour takes motorists along U.S. 183.

Hall Street, which crosses I-70 by way of the 40-year-old bridge, was scheduled to be widened within the next 10 years. Now, the city and state are discussing moving up the bridge replacement.

“Things are changing by the hour,” said John Braun, assistant director of Public Works.

The bridge was damaged Monday when a tracked backhoe excavator being transported on a flatbed trailer struck the overpass. No one was injured.