AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Texas Department of Transportation spent the day trying to get to the bottom of a sudden and lengthy closure on the southbound upper deck of Interstate 35 Sunday morning.

Dozens of drivers parked on the upper deck for more than hour were calling and emailing KXAN between 9:00 to 10 a.m. asking, “What is the hold up?”

They sent in pictures of people standing on the upper deck talking to each other to pass the time. One driver said a guy took his skateboard out of his car and was rolling around.

Felix Palacious was on his way to South Austin to run an errand when he found himself parked on the interstate.

He wrote, “Been stuck on upper level of IH35 for over an hour due to bad planning.”

At one point, he got out of his car and walked about a mile south on the upper deck to see where the highway was blocked. He spoke to several drivers along the way.

I spoke to a lady who was a doctor. She said she was late for her shift already,” said Palacious. “I spoke to another man who was supposed to deliver some equipment at a certain time and he was an hour and a half late.”

TxDOT spokesperson Chris Bishop said the Greater Austin Area Telecommunications Network (GAATN) did have a permit to run a fiber optic cable across the interstate at Clyde Littlefield Drive, but the work was supposed to be completed between 6:30 and 7:30 a.m. Sunday and only cause a ten minute closure. Police were supposed to perform a rolling roadblock to stop traffic for the short amount of time.

Wayne Wedemeyer, the chair for GAATN, said one of their contractors was doing the work. He learned after the fact there was a delay in getting staff present so the contractor made the decision to start the work later.

“GAATN is very sorry about that,” said Wedemeyer. “We were not present to stop it, or we would’ve stopped it.”

From now on he says they will have staff on site to ensure the work is completed in the time frame it was permitted for. The GAATN has been doing work since 1994, and Wedemeyer says they have never had problems like this before.

TxDOT says they are not required to be onsite to enforce permit stipulations, but will have staff at similar closures in the future to help prevent problems and minimize traffic disruptions.

Frustrated drivers said they believe the company responsible should face hefty fines.

Late Monday, Bishop said TxDOT officials decided GAATN will not face any fines for causing the major traffic delay.