Potential fallout from I-10 bridge collapse: Higher shipping, retail costs

• The closure of I-10 after a bridge collapse in California focuses attention on the highway’s key economic role
• Much of the trade in consumer goods to and from Asia flows along I-10, in and out of the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach
• About 24,000 vehicles each day, roughly one-third of them commercial trucks, traverse I-10 between Arizona and California

The closure of Interstate 10 because of a bridge collapse in the California desert focuses attention on the vital role of the highway, and the trucking industry, in Arizona’s economy.

Billions of dollars worth of products make their way across the Arizona and California deserts, much of it shipped into or out of the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to or from China and other Pacific Rim nations.

Consumer goods represent the bulk of the truckloads along I-10, said Arnold Maltz, associate professor of Supply Chain Management at the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University.

A 2013 tally by the Arizona Department of Transportation found that an average of nearly 24,000 vehicles enter or leave Arizona on I-10 at Ehrenberg, on the eastern bank of the Colorado River. Of these, commercial trucks account for almost one third, or 7,500.

At a minimum, the bridge collapse means truckers are looking at more time, labor and fuel costs to divert their routes. If the delay persists long enough, some shippers might put their cargo on trains

The drive between the LA and Phoenix metro areas usually takes a minimum of six hours without heavy traffic.

“It’s adding about three hours to a typical route,” said Tony Bradley, president and chief executive officer of the Arizona Trucking Association. That becomes a problem because drivers are required by federal regulation to take a 30-minute break in their first eight hours and can drive for no more than 11 hours each day, he said. In some cases, they spend a couple of hours just waiting for cargoes to be loaded or unloaded at the congested ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

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Bradley said the I-10 closure could have a “huge impact” on Arizona’s economy. The industry counts 102,000 Arizona jobs, including 37,000 drivers.

Vehicles are being re-routed more than 100 miles out of the way. Bradley said westbound trucks generally are getting diverted north to I-40, while eastbound traffic is being funneled south to I-8. Various other California and Arizona highways also offered alternate routes.

It’s certainly possible that consumers, too, could pay for the bridge collapse, through higher shipping costs built into retail prices. “Truckers usually charge by the mile, so if you add a couple hundred miles, that adds to the final bill,” Bradley said.

Two of the largest trucking firms in the nation, Swift Transportation and Knight Transportation, are headquartered in Phoenix. The companies have not yet responded to requests for comment.

For others, the closure so far has represented an inconvenience, but not a major problem.

“Our driver told us yesterday that they’d shut I-10, and it’s affecting us just a bit on the timetable (and our use of fuel), since we're taking an alternate route on I-8 and then rejoining I-10,” said Guillermo Ramírez, supervisor for the Tap Royal bus line in Phoenix. “It's a bother but nothing that impacts operations in any real way.”

Some retailers reported a normal flow of goods, including Home Depot and Albertsons Companies, which includes Safeway.

But Avnet, a global electronics distributor based in Phoenix, said its transportation team is developing new freight routing plans and providing regular updates to customers on delivery times.

“At this point, we are planning for an additional one to two transit days to accommodate the new routes,” said Marianne McDonald, an Avnet vice president who oversees global transportation and import/export operations.

A major east-west Union Pacific train line parallels I-10, though many miles to the south, where the terrain is flatter near the Salton Sea. Train traffic was delayed in some places in California by a violent weekend storm but not on the line that runs through the California desert to Yuma and Tucson, said Francisco Castillo, a spokesman for the railroad.

The collapsed bridge, just west of Desert Center about halfway between the Colorado River and the Palm Springs area, was deemed functionally obsolete — meaning it’s no longer adequate for its role but not structurally deficient and thus in need of repair.

This shouldn’t be considered a fluke failure. Maltz said, “Infrastructure in general has been taken for granted. We’ve taken it for granted for many years.”

Some 256 Arizona bridges are structurally deficient, while another 684 in the state are functionally obsolete, according to Bradley at the Arizona Trucking Association. Some 1.6 million vehicles pass over these bridges every day, according to the group, which is pushing for increased state spending to shore up highway bridges.

Republic reporter Laurie Merrill contributed to this article.