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Drivers on the ramp from the southbound West Loop to Highway 59 got a scary surprise Monday when a chunk of freeway fell to the ground.

The hole, about 2-3 feet in diameter, mysteriously opened up in the road and went crashing onto Richmond below around 1 p.m.

Two of the three lanes on the ramp were closed until it was patched up.

Monday evening, the center lane remained blocked off, even though the hole was patched by 7 p.m.  Traffic was backed up for miles well past rush hour.

“That’s kind of scary. Hope it doesn’t happen while I’m going under it,” driver Myron Blalock said.

For a while after the collapse, only orange cones marked the trouble spot.

“We are not sure what happened. We’re going to have to investigate that,” said Karen Olthon of TxDOT. “Our maintenance supervisor just happened to be in that area today at 11 o’clock this morning and drove over that lane and did not notice anything.”

While they weren’t certain of the cause of the incident, TxDOT said crews worked on that same area just a week ago.

“They’re not doing a good job. Somebody could have lost their life up there today,” driver Thomas Barnes said.

The ramp will be closed again from Friday night until Sunday morning so more permanent repairs can be made.

TxDOT said that in terms of maintenance, Houston’s roadways are some of the worst in the state, in part because they are the busiest.  

They’re planning a proposal to take money away from other cities in Texas and send it to Houston for repairs. They’re also taking a billion dollars out of the new construction budget to spend on statewide maintenance projects.