Riverside County approves plan to demolish deteriorating Whitewater Bridge

The County of Riverside Transportation Department announced plans to demolish a collapsed bridge in Whitewater. The bridge is located along Whitewater Cutoff, a road that's parallel to the I-10.

During a board meeting Tuesday morning, plans to move forward with the emergency demolition process were passed by the department without discussion. The project is expected to cost around $1.5 million.

The bridge was first closed on August 21st, after sustaining storm damage during Hurricane Hilary. Since then, the bridge slowly deteriorated until it finally collapsed in November. According to a statement sent to KESQ from Riverside County, the collapse had no impact on residents.

This bridge was only used by one local business, which has another point of access – or route in and out of the location. In addition, one or two water utilities also used this bridge when it was operational. Those utilities are also using another means of access to their facilities.

The bridge isn’t connected to the I-10 at all and will not impact operations to the 10 Freeway in any way. We’ve been preparing to demolish the bridge since the damage in August.

Several steps have already been taken to prevent additional deterioration, including working with the Coachella Valley Water District and the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California to reduce the water flow under the bridge. Crews were able to lower the flow in the channel from 700 cubic feet per second to 400 feet per second. Caltrans also previously led an investigation on the structure back in October.

During Tuesday's meeting the board did not give a tentative date for when the bridge will be demolished.

The next County of Riverside Transportation Department meeting will take place on December 13th.