HikeArizona.COM

Wow!
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gummo wrote:Nonetheless, I am not an engineer, but I would think that a stronger bridge would have oval, egg-shaped, or football-shaped pillar under it for support than the block-like rectangular pillars. Oval shapes are stronger than rectangles. That's why VW bugs are safer than other cars their size.

Look at the pictures. The failure wasn't at the "pillars" but was at the bank.

@rcorfman
I see. The one picture did not show it, but that other one did.

Well, a plane crash didn't bring down the twin towers either. :STP: :roll:

Are we officially off-topic yet?

chumley wrote:Well, a plane crash didn't bring down the twin towers either. :STP: :roll:

Are we officially off-topic yet?

Yes, I agree. I did not think someone on here thought that it was more than the airplanes that took down the twin towers. It's rare that I find someone who believes in the Twin Tower conspiracy. Are they still looking for those indestructible "black" boxes? I should have used the Titanic as an example instead of the Twin Towers.

Officially off-topic starts NOW.

I-10 to re-open Friday, July 24, 2015.

All traffic will use the westbound lanes over the bridge which did not fail. It suffered minor damage and was repaired.

Subsequently, traffic in each direction will be reduced to 1-lane and eastbound traffic will cross over to the westbound side to cross the bridge.

The timetable for rebuilding the eastbound bridge has not been announced, but an emergency contract has been awarded for the work.

http://sv08data.dot.ca.gov/memos/files/ ... 2115_0.pdf

In the meantime I think it's safe to say that the detour routes are being patrolled very well and speed limits enforced strictly. :whistle:

@chumley How could they miss such an opportunity?

Yes I talked to my brother earlier tonight and he said there is a big increase on hwy 62. And the police are out in force$$$

Yeah...so I am in Anaheim right now for the family's first trip to Disneyland. We drove out Sunday, and passed over this bridge about an hour or two before it failed. It was just starting to rain in Palm Desert, but by the time we hit LA it was on full force. Huge storm, brought all of the freeways to a crawl. I have never seen so much rain here in all my trips to SoCal, and I used to come out here quite a bit for work. Glad to hear the detour is on, I was planning on doing the 29 Palms detour, but we will see how things are looking Friday before we head back. No hiking this week, but with 3 days at the Magic Kingdom I am getting my excersise for sure, hauling around all our gear with my trusty REI Flash 50 pack. Low top Keens are working nicely too...

@The Dude I wonder if there will be accurate information on the delay. I picture a big, long line of trucks in both directions waiting to merge onto the other span.

@big_load
I don't expect it will be too bad. There are lots of times where two lane interstates drop to one lane for construction. It rarely results in a backup. Just some slower speeds.

Made it through the detour yesterday, no delays for us at all. They have the speed limit down to 50 for a few miles with some dps there just to make sure. Kudos to CALTRANS for getting this up and running so quickly, the damage is pretty impressive. There were still some areas of standing water out in the desert from 6 days ago, must have been something to watch.

I heard there was some sort of construction crew nearby doing work and so they contracted for the work; being so close they were able to get on it rather quickly. Glad to hear it's up and running. It's a pretty important freeway for commerce.

I was wondering if anyone can provide firsthand info on how the lane restriction past Tex Wash is affecting I-10 travel times, please. i.e. Is the delay on I-10 better or worse than the circuitous re-route. Thanks!

@hikeaz On August 1st 9am westbound & Aug 7th 4pm eastbound we didn't slow down in either direction. The south side has been paved over to north so each side has one lane. I was ready to get photos of the backup but there wasn't any.

joe bartels wrote:@hikeaz On August 1st 9am westbound & Aug 7th 4pm eastbound we didn't slow down in either direction. The south side has been paved over to north so each side has one lane. I was ready to get photos of the backup but there wasn't any.

Thanks Joe - I kinda thought as much. Let's keep it a secret though, so that a proportion will still use the work-around. Thanks again!