Utilities route service around damaged utility bridge downtown
TxDOT and local utilities are working to make sure utility customers in Downtown El Paso are not affected after Thursday’s fiery wreck damaged a utility bridge at I-10 West and Mesa.
ABC-7 has learned the utility bridge carries electric, water, gas, and telecommunication lines. Jennifer Wright, a TxDOT representative, said the gas line running along this bridge was inactive.
“The structure carries utilities into downtown, so our efforts are to make sure that service is not interrupted to downtown,” Wright said, “but in some cases, they’re not in use. Texas gas had a line going over there but it is abandoned.”
The utility bridge was damaged when a truck driver reaching for a bottle of water accidentally drove up an embankment and crashed into it. The bridge supports water and electricity pipes for the local utilities. The truck driver was able to exit his tractor trailer moments after it went up in flames.
Wright said there is no danger to the public at this time.
Eddie Gutierrez, with El Paso Electric, told ABC-7 the electrical line supported by the damaged utility bridge “serves the main downtown footprint – so it does cover the downtown area, at least parts of it.”
“The way it is structured, and the way planning is being worked out currently, service will not be interrupted,” Gutierrez said.
El Paso Water spokesperson Christina Montoya said water running through the affected line has been shut down while the line is repaired. Water service has been rerouted around the broken line and customers should not expect interruptions in service, but there will be low water pressure for those north of I-10.
“There is a 24-inch water line that crosses the interstate right there. So, the way our system is designed, we try to loop everything so that everybody has water feeding from two directions, and the purpose for that is just this. When you have something knocked out of service, we try to keep as many people in service as possible,” said El Paso Water Vice President of Operations and Technical Services Alan Shubert, “Essentially, that’s what this connection does: it provides redundancy. We are able to feed people from the other direction because it is all a looped system.”
