Days after crews reopened the new West Dallas bridge spanning Interstate 45 in downtown Houston after replacing it, officials have closed the entrance to westbound Interstate 10 from Louisiana and the I-45 HOV ramp above it, so emergency repairs can be made.

The entrance and HOV ramp will open by mid-January, or hopefully sooner, said Danny Perez, spokesman for the Texas Department of Transportation.

“We want to close it to get it repaired quickly,” Perez said Wednesday.

Meanwhile, officials have waived the HOV requirement to help people head westbound on I-10.

Perez blamed the closing on a shift in the overpass, which occurs over time. The slab that forms the road right where the overpass begins buckled, tilting the road and making it impassable. Officials cannot let traffic pass below the buckled slab until it is replaced and repaired.

Work already has begun, Perez said.

It is not believed any vehicle struck the ramp, as was the case with the West Dallas span.

“We had indications,” Perez said, noting engineers had been planning for maintenance repairs when the situation was deemed too dire to let traffic keep moving on the entrance and the overpass. Crews had previously closed one lane of the Louisiana entrance ramp because of the shifting overpass.

Houston Public Works devised a detour route for traffic normally coming into downtown via the HOV ramp and drivers typically leaving via the Louisiana entrance. Those headed westbound on I-10 can access the freeway by taking Franklin to the entrance for the I-10 HOV lane. Users of the I-45 HOV lane can get to the freeway via Travis Street, officials said.

Perez said officials were not overly alarmed at having two emergency closures in downtown so close together. As the area’s highways are assessed, officials sometimes plan for projects but the deterioration accelerates to the point they have to repair the problems immediately.

“It just depends on the situation when the funding becomes available,” Perez said, noting officials would not leave a dangerous section of highway unattended and open. “We are constantly looking at things and that is the case here.”