KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Emergency bridge repairs in the Northland will force some drivers to find an alternate route for the next couple days.

The Missouri Department of Transportation says it’s closing all lanes of northbound I-29 at U.S. 169 Highway for emergency bridge joint repairs beginning at 8:30 a.m. Monday.

MoDOT said it expects to keep the lanes closed until some time on Tuesday afternoon.

“The joint had fallen apar concrete around the joint had deteriorated and broken loose so we determined that it was best to close the bridge to traffic and make urgent repairs,” MoDOT Assistant District Engineer, Matt Killiion, said.

Killion said one of the maintenance crews noticed the deterioration and condition of the joint on Friday, so they closed the lane but over the weekend it spread to the adjacent lane.

“The joint has been repaired, replaced over the years, but it just broke loose bad enough for us to close the bridge and make the repairs,” Killion said.

Killion said the bridge is 57 years old and these type of repairs can happen sometimes.

Because of the emergency repairs some crews were pulled from different areas.

“We’ve pulled in crews from different parts of the region,” he said. “Our bridge crews are on site doing the actual repairs and then our maintenance crews are out and about doing the lane closure and traffic control.”

If you drive on northbound I-29, you’ll be rerouted to northbound U.S. 169. MoDOT suggests a detour route of northbound U.S. 169 to westbound Missouri Route 152 to northbound I-29. All work is weather permitting.

FOX4 will keep track of the lane closures through Tuesday afternoon and provide an update when the work is complete and northbound I-29 reopens.