I-10 closure cuts off Chiriaco Summit
Chiriaco Summit is a small town along Interstate 10 with a gas station, a coffee shop, and the General Patton Memorial Museum.
Interstate 10 remains closed between Route 86 and the Arizona border after a 30 by 50-foot section of bridge collapsed four miles west of Desert Center early Sunday evening.
Chiriaco Summit is just a few miles west of the collapsed bridge. With the highway shut down, the gas station is empty and the Patton Museum closed early. Businesses could lose thousands of dollars and some people won’t be able to work.
“Its so quite right now, I don’t know what we are going to do, there’s just no customers right now,” said Rudolph Montoya. He works at the Chevron Gas Station and at the museum.
Riverside County Supervisor John Benoit tells News Channel 3/CBS Local 2 that Interstate 10 may be re-opened in a matter of days.
Crews are working Monday night to reinforce the Westbound bridge so that traffic could move through the area with one lane in each direction.
Benoit says crews were hoping to start pouring new concrete footings as soon as 2:00 a.m. Tuesday morning.
“We will take it day by day. That’s all we can do, just wait and see,” said Montoya.
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