Riverside County, California Bridges: I-10 Bridges across Tex Wash

July 20, 2015 (33.70467, -115.44221) Tex Wash Bridges

Last week a flash flood washed out the eastbound Tex Wash Bridge (56 0576L/R), which is one of two 3-span concrete slab bridges that carry I-10 across a desert wash near Desert Center, California. These bridges were built in 1967. Traffic was quickly diverted to the westbound bridge with one lane in each direction. A new eastbound bridge will be completed in September.

The one irritating thing about this story was how the news media reported it. They all said that the bridge had an 'A' rating and so officials are investigating why it collapsed. The news likes to make every natural disaster sound like negligence on the part of engineers. Bridges are designed for the 100 year flood, which was obviously exceeded by this event.