U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx has announced the immediate availability of $2 million in Emergency Relief funds from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to help the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) and local agencies cover repair costs for roads and bridges damaged by Sunday’s earthquake in California’s Napa Valley.
“The Department of Transportation is making a down payment on our commitment to get assistance to the California residents hit hardest by Sunday’s earthquake,” says Secretary Foxx. “We will do everything we can to help fix roads and bridges damaged by the Napa earthquake so people can once again get to work, school, medical appointments and other places they need to go.”
Caltrans has identified numerous locations with damage to bridges and roadways, with preliminary cost estimates already totaling at least $10 million at this time. The recent 6.0 magnitude earthquake caused widespread surface cracking on roadways, such as S.R. 121 north of the Sonoma/Napa County line at Cuttings Wharf, and significant stress to joints on bridges, including the Napa River Bridge on S.R. 29.
All bridges are safe and open to traffic. The state’s primary focus is determining whether bridge joints should be repaired or replaced.
“The FHWA will work with Caltrans until all repairs are made, and every damaged road and bridge is fully repaired,” says Acting Federal Highway Administrator Gregory Nadeau. “Safety is our top priority, and we will do whatever we can to help California recover from this event.”
Aftershocks from the earthquake are expected to continue for several weeks, raising the possibility of additional damage to infrastructure. Funds from FHWA’s Emergency Relief Program will reimburse Caltrans and local agencies for emergency work done immediately following the earthquake. The program provides funds for the repair or reconstruction of federal-aid roads and bridges damaged by natural disasters or other catastrophic events.
