Burned Bridge Adds to Commuter Woes

Residents near the Rio Hondo flood channel face snarled commutes after fire destroyed an aging wooden bridge linking Montebello and Pico Rivera, officials said Wednesday.

Tuesday’s loss of the Beverly Boulevard bridge, just south of Whittier Narrows Dam, leaves a second major east-west commuter route out of commission. Traffic on nearby Whittier Boulevard through Montebello has been drastically limited by a redevelopment project.

“Right now, the way it stands, our city is at a standstill,” Montebello Councilwoman Norma Lopez-Reid said Wednesday at an emergency City Council meeting.

Fire investigators believe the Beverly Boulevard fire was started by a transient, but no arrests have been made. Signs direct traffic south to Washington Boulevard and north to the Pomona Freeway, both two or more miles from Beverly.

“Getting around has suddenly gotten a lot more difficult,” Camille Bogue said while tending the pet grooming shop she operates near the bridge.

“That bridge is the link between all communities on the east and west sides of the Rio Hondo,” said Bob Spencer, a spokesman for the city of Pico Rivera. “People use it as a major commute route to downtown Los Angeles. This is the last thing we needed.”

Many children living in Montebello or Pico Rivera cross the bridge to go to school, he said.

“This is quite a crisis situation,” Montebello Mayor Bill Molinari said.

Even before Tuesday’s fire, merchants were complaining about congestion caused by the Whittier Boulevard redevelopment project, which includes placing utilities underground, new street lighting, public parking and landscaping.

The 600-foot trestle that burned was built about 1950. It was scheduled to be demolished in April and replaced with a $10-million concrete span.

Last winter’s rainstorms badly damaged the wooden structure’s east and west approaches. Three weeks of repairs were completed in March.

City engineers are determining whether a temporary bridge, possibly available from the military, can be put in place until work is completed on a permanent replacement structure.

Leng Tang, 44, who runs Sunshine Donuts near the bridge, looked forlornly around her empty shop Wednesday.

“It’s always busy in the morning,” she said. “People stop in on the way to work for coffee and a doughnut. But now, none.”