When floodwaters washed away a critical portion of Interstate 10 in the Southern California desert recently, Caltrans and its contractors moved fast to restore traffic
In late August, a series of storms barreled across Southern California dropping torrents of rain on the high desert. A few inches of rain fell in the course of an hour, collected on barren slopes and rushed down previously parched arroyos. Near Desert Center in eastern Riverside County, this sudden rush of water overwhelmed the eastbound lanes of Interstate 10, washing them away and cutting the main highway link between Los Angeles and Phoenix.
A value-engineered bid and the contractor’s willingness to take on risk in the case of unexpected weather events paid off in the wake of the Aug. 25 flash flood. Borrowing materials from other jobs and summoning crews back on site overnight, Fisher Industries was able to have the eastbound lanes back in operation within 52 hours.
