Be very scared of California bridges

Next time you drive through 119 “obsolete” and 79 “structurally deficient” bridges in Riverside County, California stretching 7,303 square miles from just east of Los Angeles to the Arizona border, think of the recent monumental collapse of the Tex Wash Bridge.

Located just east of Palm Springs and sitting on Interstate 10 linking Los Angeles to Phoenix, the Tex Wash Bridge crumpled to the ground the other day on the weight of a single  black truck.

What’s alarming with the collapse of the Tex Wash Bridge is that it just received an “A” rating, according to federal sources, which means it was structurally sound and safe to use despite being built in 1968.

The bridge had a "sufficiency rating" of 91.5 out of 100, higher than dozens of other interstate bridges, according to the Federal Highway Administration (FHA), said USA Today.

The collapse of the rated “A” bridge raised questions as to the continuing use of the 119 bridges rated “obsolete” by FHA and the 79 tagged by the same agency as “structurally deficient.” –End-

Image by: USA Today