Army Vehicle Crushes Bridge Support on I-15 Freeway Bridge Support

The Las Vegas-bound lanes of Interstate 15 outside Barstow will be closed to traffic at least until Saturday while road crews rebuild a support column of a freeway overpass demolished by an errant U.S. Army armored vehicle, Caltrans officials said Thursday.

The M-2 Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle--an armored personnel carrier--was part of a convoy bound for nearby Ft. Irwin when it smashed into the Mannix Wash overpass 25 miles north of Barstow at 7:15 p.m. Wednesday, authorities said.

The driver, Spec. 4 Terry Lee Covell of the 2nd Armored Division from Ft. Hood, Tex., was unhurt in the accident that reduced one of four support pillars to rubble, structurally damaged two others and buckled the roadway, an Army spokesman said.

Damage to the vehicle was “less than $100,” said Sgt. Armando Carrasco, a spokesman for the desert training center. The total cost of repairing the bridge, however, may exceed $250,000, Department of Transportation officials said.

Carrasco said it was unclear why Covell crashed the 19-metric-ton vehicle. He said the accident was under investigation by the Army and California Highway Patrol officials.

Jay Smart, highway maintenance supervisor at Caltrans’ Barstow office, compared the ruined pillar to “a pile of fist-sized rocks” and said the Army probably will be billed for the cost of fixing the bridge.

Meanwhile, CHP officials were bracing themselves for a major traffic jam on the main highway linking Los Angeles and Las Vegas. Northbound traffic was being rerouted along a seven-mile stretch of one-lane frontage road from Harvard Road to Field Road.

Authorities said the accident occurred shortly after about 150 Army vehicles, including the M-2, were unloaded from railroad cars and formed a convoy heading toward the training center about 30 miles away. Covell, authorities said, apparently left the scene of the accident to report it to his superior at Ft. Irwin.