I-10 bridge collapse near Desert Center CA

[CtrlAltDel]

Looking at the picture, the only thing that would make the bridge "functionally obsolete" was the narrow left shoulder.

Measuring on Google Maps gives me 4.07 feet, which, if accurate, fits the standards.

[Big John]

^^ AASHTO recommendations for a divided highway with 2 lanes in one direction is a 6' left shoulder and a 10' right shoulder, though a 4' left shoulder is allowed it will be flagged as functionally obsolete.

[Desert Man]

Between my hometown Indio CA and the Colorado River, the Tex Wash bridge was rated "A" earlier this year for having good infrastructure. Now, Caltrans has to examine and possibly repair bridges along the I-10 in So CA. We cannot have that happen again, esp. in an urban area with more traffic and possible deaths or injuries from a future bridge collapse. 

[DJStephens]

What is the exact location / milepost of this washout?

This is the bridge that washed out, eastbound lanes at "Tex Wash":
https://www.google.com/maps/@33.704102,-115.442385,3a,75y,90h,90t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sm6JQHwa5cccQ7vZ8lXzL3g!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

thanks for the link, figured the bridge in question was one of those early ones without a R shoulder.  Such as the I-10 crossing of the dry Gila River wash just east of Phoenix.   

[andy3175]

The Tex Wash bridge was partially reopened with one lane in each direction last Friday 7/24.

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2015/07/24/portion-of-10-fwy-to-reopen-at-noon-following-bridge-damage/

Officials reopened a portion of the 10 Freeway on Friday just five days after flash flooding damaged several bridges in the area.
One lane reopened in each direction of the freeway at noon, officials said. ...

Repairs were also made to two other bridges, Adair Ditch Bridge and Hillock Ditch Bridge, which were found in need of upgrades on the freeway. ...

On Thursday, federal officials announced the immediate availability of $2 million in funding to help cover costs that are associated with rebuilding the roadway.

The relief funding will be provided by the Federal Highway Administration's Emergency Relief Program.

Crews are expected to focus on the eastbound side of the roadway.

Motorists were advised to use detour routes such as Arizona Route 95 to Interstate 40, Interstate 8 to State Route 111 to Route 86, or State Route 177 to State Route 62 to the 10 Freeway in order to avoid the closure area.

http://www.desertsun.com/story/news/2015/07/23/feds-giving-caltrans-2-million--fix-collapsed-bridge/30583765/

California will receive $2 million in federal funding to help fix the Tex Wash bridge along Interstate 10, officials said Thursday.

The bridge injured one person and shut down traffic between Los Angeles and Phoenix when it collapsed over the weekend.

A temporary detour that will allow traffic to flow in both directions is expected to be completed by noon Friday. State officials have yet to estimate how long it will be until the entire bridge is rebuilt. ...

The eastbound I-10 bridge failed during a major storm Sunday, when fast-moving flood waters shifted the dirt that held its foundations in place. A pickup was caught in the collapse and Desert Center resident Bryon Castor was hospitalized with moderate to major injuries.

Since then, motorists have been forced to take alternate routes that have added at least an hour to their drives. A local economist estimated the bridge collapse will result in more than $1.5 million of unexpected costs to travelers and businesses – and 19,000 wasted hours for truck drivers – per day.

[andy3175]

http://www.scpr.org/news/2015/09/24/54619/i-10-bridge-reopens-following-storm-washing-out-pr/

The washed out Interstate 10 bridge in Riverside County reopened Thursday around 12:15 p.m., a week ahead of schedule, Caltrans spokesperson Terri Kasinga told KPCC. One lane was opened earlier in the day, with the second set to reopen by the end of business Thursday, according to a Caltrans release.

"There's still going to be some continuing work in the river bottom, on the structure of course on the westbound side and eastbound side, but we're not anticipating any impacts to traffic or any major lane closures," Kasinga said.

The new eastbound I-10 Tex Wash Bridge near Desert Center has reopened two months after a July 19 storm washed away the original bridge. The westbound bridge has also been restricted, but it's set to be restored to two lanes by midafternoon Friday, according to the release. Traffic breaks to remove k-rail and re-stripe the road between 4 a.m. and 1 p.m. may lead to breaks in traffic that last up to 10 minutes, according to Caltrans.

http://www.desertsun.com/story/news/traffic/2015/09/24/tex-wash-bridge-reopens-week-early/72778852/

Cars whizzed past construction workers on Interstate 10 near Desert Center Thursday afternoon as the final traffic cones were removed from the roadway, signaling the reopening of the Tex Wash Bridge after a two-month closure.

One lane of the new eastbound bridge was opened early in the day, while the second lane was cleared just before 5 p.m., making the way for trucks and cars at the end of the workday.

Westbound lanes of I-10 will be restored to two lanes by Friday as well, although intermittent 10-minute traffic breaks will be needed to remove the temporary divider and re-stripe the road between 4 a.m. and 1 p.m. ...

Crews have been working 24-hours-a-day for two months to rebuild the bridge, which partially collapsed during a severe July 19 rainstorm.

The repair schedule was ambitious, with similar projects taking 11/2 years, according to Caltrans, but the accelerated speed pushed the cost to about $5 million due to increased overtime pay and detour development.

Precast material brought in from Perris also helped speed up the construction, Prunty said.

The project's timeline was prioritized partially due to the bridge's impact on interstate trade.

The thoroughfare, which is traveled by thousands of commuters and commercial vehicles every day, follows a path through Southern California via the Coachella Valley to the Arizona border. According to Caltrans, 40 percent of the country's imports flow from Southern California ports to other states. Of the bridge's average daily flow of 24,000 vehicles, about 9,500 are trucks.

[andy3175]

A report came out describing why the bridge may have collapsed last summer...

http://www.desertsun.com/story/news/2016/04/21/tex-wash-bridge-collapse/83340476/

The eastbound portion of the Tex Wash Bridge, a seemingly unremarkable bridge on I-10 near Desert Center, collapsed after nearly seven inches of rain led to historic flooding on the morning of July 19. ...

A motorist, Bryon Castor, was nearly killed, and his passenger, and Scott Meyn, was seriously injured. Both plan to sue Caltrans.

Although the flooding was epic, (study co-author Abolhassan Astaneh-Asl) argues that the Tex Wash Bridge could have survived if it had been built differently. His research paper says that construction crews reshaped the wash when the bridge was built in 1967, squeezing a wide river delta into a narrow channel and forcing the flood path into a curve, which eroded the eastern base of the bridge.

Astaneh also discovered that bridge foundations were built with no underground piles anchoring them into the soil.

"This was not good engineering,"  Astaneh told The Desert Sun last year, while conducting research at the bridge. "In good engineering, you work with nature, you don't fight against it."

"Because the flood will always win."

Link to report: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2806857-Tex-Wash-Bridge-Study.html

[Max Rockatansky]

A report came out describing why the bridge may have collapsed last summer...

http://www.desertsun.com/story/news/2016/04/21/tex-wash-bridge-collapse/83340476/

The eastbound portion of the Tex Wash Bridge, a seemingly unremarkable bridge on I-10 near Desert Center, collapsed after nearly seven inches of rain led to historic flooding on the morning of July 19. ...

A motorist, Bryon Castor, was nearly killed, and his passenger, and Scott Meyn, was seriously injured. Both plan to sue Caltrans.

Although the flooding was epic, (study co-author Abolhassan Astaneh-Asl) argues that the Tex Wash Bridge could have survived if it had been built differently. His research paper says that construction crews reshaped the wash when the bridge was built in 1967, squeezing a wide river delta into a narrow channel and forcing the flood path into a curve, which eroded the eastern base of the bridge.

Astaneh also discovered that bridge foundations were built with no underground piles anchoring them into the soil.

"This was not good engineering,"  Astaneh told The Desert Sun last year, while conducting research at the bridge. "In good engineering, you work with nature, you don't fight against it."

"Because the flood will always win."

Link to report: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2806857-Tex-Wash-Bridge-Study.html

Two things that I never saw an answer too about the Tex Wash Bridge always bothered me.  First; what was the state of the bridge on Ragsdale Road which can be seen just north of I-10?  For those who don't know Ragsdale Road was part of US 60/70 before I-10 was built.  If that bridge had been maintained by Riverside County and was intact after this storm, in theory after being inspected could have been used a detour from exit 189 to CA 177 in Desert Center at exit 192?  Also the Caltrans detour routes instructed people to go way out of their way to use I-8 or I-40 when CA 62 was available for use as well and even could have been reached from exit 192 on 177....so why was that?  I would love to see what the explanation was with CA 62, it's not like we're talking a low quality road that doesn't receive much traffic.

[Desert Man]

The trillions spent on the 15-year war on terror would come in handy to renovate the country's infrastructure, like the Tex Wash bridge. It's not like the Brooklyn or Golden Gate or the 26-mile Lake Pontchartrain one, it's a relatively small bridge on a stretch of freeway in the middle of desert. These bridges may have a long life, but their time is not eternal, infinite or immortal (whatever).

[Max Rockatansky]

The trillions spent on the 15-year war on terror would come in handy to renovate the country's infrastructure, like the Tex Wash bridge. It's not like the Brooklyn or Golden Gate or the 26-mile Lake Pontchartrain one, it's a relatively small bridge on a stretch of freeway in the middle of desert. These bridges may have a long life, but their time is not eternal, infinite or immortal (whatever).

But that's Caltrans responsibility and not the Federal government to maintain I-10 in California.  So whatever your views on recent wars may or may not be they probably didn't affect the Caltrans maintenance budget all that much.  Things that would affect it would be things like holding onto too many routes that should have been relinquished to localities and counties years ago.  Basically what happen with this wash out was a freak flood from...if I recall correct a 50 year level flood plane event.  It's really debatable if anything like this could have really been headed off.

[Desert Man]

The trillions spent on the 15-year war on terror would come in handy to renovate the country's infrastructure, like the Tex Wash bridge. It's not like the Brooklyn or Golden Gate or the 26-mile Lake Pontchartrain one, it's a relatively small bridge on a stretch of freeway in the middle of desert. These bridges may have a long life, but their time is not eternal, infinite or immortal (whatever).

But that's Caltrans responsibility and not the Federal government to maintain I-10 in California.  So whatever your views on recent wars may or may not be they probably didn't affect the Caltrans maintenance budget all that much.  Things that would affect it would be things like holding onto too many routes that should have been relinquished to localities and counties years ago.  Basically what happen with this wash out was a freak flood from...if I recall correct a 50 year level flood plane event.  It's really debatable if anything like this could have really been headed off.

Oh OK, makes sense. I'm aware the constitution calls for federal services divided into states and the states divided into counties. Whoever does the job is a smaller government unit representing the community it serves. CalTrans might not be doing their job on freeways, nor is Riverside county on back roads.

[Max Rockatansky]

The trillions spent on the 15-year war on terror would come in handy to renovate the country's infrastructure, like the Tex Wash bridge. It's not like the Brooklyn or Golden Gate or the 26-mile Lake Pontchartrain one, it's a relatively small bridge on a stretch of freeway in the middle of desert. These bridges may have a long life, but their time is not eternal, infinite or immortal (whatever).

But that's Caltrans responsibility and not the Federal government to maintain I-10 in California.  So whatever your views on recent wars may or may not be they probably didn't affect the Caltrans maintenance budget all that much.  Things that would affect it would be things like holding onto too many routes that should have been relinquished to localities and counties years ago.  Basically what happen with this wash out was a freak flood from...if I recall correct a 50 year level flood plane event.  It's really debatable if anything like this could have really been headed off.

Oh OK, makes sense. I'm aware the constitution calls for federal services divided into states and the states divided into counties. Whoever does the job is a smaller government unit representing the community it serves. CalTrans might not be doing their job on freeways, nor is Riverside county on back roads.

That's part of the issue, in that there is no longer Federal funds available for highway use like there was when the Interstates were being built.  Basically now it's all upon the states to totally maintain the routes and like you said you get varying degrees of quality.  Personally I always thought I-8 in Imperial Valley and parts of I-40 east of Barstow were in rougher shape than in I-10.  One of the problems with Caltrans I have vs another agency like ADOT is that they maintain too many roads when they ought to be relinquished to the counties faster.  I'm not looking at ADOT as any sort of paragon of excellence in road maintenance but they have a much more condensed catalog of routes which frees Infrastructure costs when something needs to be fixed.  I ironically when on a huge rant about this in a renumbering thread that I made for California to show example of how many secondary roads Caltrans really maintains and of course my opinion on each. 

[DJStephens]

What is the exact location / milepost of this washout?

This is the bridge that washed out, eastbound lanes at "Tex Wash":
https://www.google.com/maps/@33.704102,-115.442385,3a,75y,90h,90t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sm6JQHwa5cccQ7vZ8lXzL3g!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

Interesting that the replacement does not appear to have "approach slabs"  They seem to be frequently used in certain locales now.  The shoulder does not appear to be ten feet wide, only six, guessing they could "grandfather" that in, as the pre-existing one was under ten feet wide?