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The partial shutdown of an Interstate 10 between California and Arizona due to a bridge collapse could raise shipping costs and delay deliveries for retailers and other shippers in coming weeks, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The 100-mile stretch of Interstate 10 was closed indefinitely after a deluge of water, mud and rocks flushed out supporting soil under one end of the bridge at Tex Wash in Desert Center, Calif., 40 miles west of the California-Arizona state line.
It’s a major route inland from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Trucked goods travel on I-10 through California’s Riverside County, part of the region known as the Inland Empire, which houses millions of square feet of warehouse space.
The California DOT has advised drivers to use alternative east-west routes, including I-40 to the north—around Joshua Tree National Park—and I-8, which runs to the south along the Mexico-U.S.
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border. Caltrans also warned of continuing thunderstorms in the area this week.
Tony Bradley, president of the Arizona Trucking Association, said his members have alerted customers to delays and extra costs associated with the closure. The current detours add as much as 100 extra miles to drivers’ routes, Bradley said, which will raise costs for those shippers that pay a set rate per-mile plus surcharges for fuel. And the extra time means some drivers may meet their daily time limits before reaching their destination.
Caltrans officials said Tuesday that the agency would reopen the freeway Friday and reroute eastbound traffic—the side that collapsed—to the westbound side of the freeway, reducing both directions to one lane. Work to repair the collapsed bridge will begin this week.
For more of The Wall Street Journal story: www.wsj.com
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