Highway 99 ramp reopen in south Sacramento after authorities investigate suspicious item

This is a developing story; check back with sacbee.com for updates.

A south Sacramento freeway offramp reopened Tuesday morning after authorities shut down the exit for about an hour to investigate a suspicious item found near the roadway.

Several vehicles from the California Highway Patrol and the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office are at the freeway’s northbound offramp to 47th Avenue working to determine if an object is an explosive, according to a Sheriff’s Office spokesman.

A spokesman for the California Highway Patrol’s South Sacramento office could not be immediately reached but officials from the CHP office said on social media just before 9:30 a.m. that the offramp was closed for “police activity.”

At 10:11 a.m., the CHP posted a new message saying the offramp had reopened. No other details about the investigation were disclosed.

Traffic along northbound Highway 99 was backed up from 47th Avenue to Calvine Road as a Caltrans traffic camera showed patrol SUVs lined along the exit.