CalTrans officials have decided to immediately begin working an Interstate 5 overpass in Oceanside after concrete fell onto the roadway below this week for the second time in a year.
The overpass was deemed an emergency a day after it dropped a 7-foot-long piece of concrete onto Oceanside Boulevard. The concrete caused a pothole in the road and lane closures on both the northbound freeway and Oceanside Boulevard. No damages or injuries were reported.
Edward Cartagena, a state Department of Transportation spokesman, told the North County Times that the repair was slated to begin late April at the earliest. When the second piece fell, CalTrans officials eliminated the bidding process that would normally take at least six weeks just to choose a contractor for the project.
The weakness in the bridge was caused by a lack of retrofitting and heavy truck traffic. About 189,000 vehicles, trucks included, drive northbound on I-5 on an average weekday, according to CalTrans.
