This past weekend, Southern California experienced a very heavy amount of rainfall in a short amount of time from the remnants of a tropical low-pressure system from the south, leading to large areas of flooding. A stretch of highway in California on I-10 between Indio, California and Blythe, California suffered a bridge collapse due to the desert flash-flooding related to this storm. The bridge that washed out is along a major artery between Los Angeles and Phoenix and caused a major traffic jam when the shutdown of the entire highway occurred. Currently, traffic is being routed through other routes including I-8 and CA-95. Beware of traffic delays if taking these, as they are largely comprised of two-lane roadways.
Hope is on the horizon however, as CalTrans has announced in a press release that the bridge is set to reopen on July 24
th, 2015. In a commuter press release CalTrans released the following statement regarding the reopening (
http://sv08data.dot.ca.gov/memos/files/comalert/072115_0.pdf):
“INTERSTATE 10 AT TEX WASH BRIDGE OPENS TO TRAFFIC ON FRIDAY”
“RIVERSIDE – The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is pleased to announce that Interstate 10 at Tex Wash Bridge will open to traffic on Friday, July 24, 2015 at noon.
Crews will strengthen the westbound side of the bridge in order to allow two-way traffic— one lane in each direction. Once I-10 is opened, minor work will be performed on the westbound side and work will commence on the eastbound side of the structure to get it operational. The existing detours will remain in effect until the opening of I-10.
Caltrans was able to expedite the opening of I-10 at Tex Wash Bridge, which washed out during a major storm on July 19, because of emergency contractual procedures that allowed Granite Construction, Inc. to be awarded the project on Monday, July 20, 2015.
As a result of the weekend storm, Caltrans inspected other bridges in the area and two were found to need minor repairs—Adair Ditch Bridge and Hillock Ditch Bridge. The repairs on these bridges are being performed concurrently and will be completed today.
Follow Caltrans District 8 on Twitter at
https://twitter.com/Caltrans8 or go to our website at
www.caltrans8.info. View traffic conditions at
http://quickmap.dot.ca.gov.”
So, as much of a headache as it was for some to deal with when the event occurred and during this week, relief seems like it is on the way. It seems as though they are working on repairing this important link between California and Arizona and want to get the highway back up to full working order as soon as they can. Until then, be cautious around the highway workers out there making the repairs and slow down for the “Cone Zone”!