Two years ago, the Independent looked into the status of the sorely needed bridge projects on Indian Canyon Drive and Vista Chino, over the Whitewater wash in Palm Springs.
Today, representatives of the Coachella Valley Association of Governments (CVAG) and the city of Palm Springs say the projects are progressing … but the news is mixed, at best.
In the case of the Indian Canyon Drive, in January 2024, the cost of building the bridge over the that road’s frequently closed northern stretch—prone to wind-blown sand and flooding during and after storms—stood at $75 million. Indian Canyon Drive is an especially important roadway, as it provides the quickest access from Interstate 10, and communities to the north of the highway, to Desert Regional Medical Center, the valley’s only Level 1 trauma center.
Jonathan Hoy, director of transportation for CVAG, told the Independent in a recent interview that the estimated total cost has risen to $100 million. We followed up with Erica Felci, CVAG’s deputy executive director, to find out what caused that increase of more than 30% in just two years.
“It’s not uncommon for costs to change as designs are finalized, and we have a clearer understanding of the engineering requirements,” Felci said. “You see this especially in projects where we go after funding early in the pre-construction process (which was the case here). Unfortunately, we’re also seeing large jumps in pretty much all infrastructure project costs. The latest trends show general construction costs have increased 30% to 50% over the last few years valley-wide.”
Two years ago, the expected start date of construction was sometime in later 2025 or early 2026—in other words, about now. But during our conversation, Hoy shared a revised timeline with construction hopefully starting in the summer of 2027, with a completion date in late 2028. What caused the delay?
“The delay is largely due to the extensive hydraulic modeling required by the (county) flood control district, which has taken longer than we initially hoped,” Felci said.
Interestingly, there seems to be some disagreement regarding control of the project.
“It’s a (Palm Springs) city project. It’s just CVAG has taken the lead since they applied for this funding (as we’re) going through the design (stage),” CVAG’s Hoy said.
Meanwhile, Palm Springs city engineer Joel Montalvo described the project as “the proposed Coachella Valley Association of Governments Indian Canyon flood and blow sand bridge project.”
When asked about this apparent disagreement, Felci noted: “Indian Canyon Road is a city-owned facility. With the city’s support, CVAG is acting as project lead during the design phase. CVAG and the city are in discussions regarding who will lead the construction phase, but that has not yet been finalized.”
There is still a roughly $37.4 million shortfall on the Indian Canyon Bridge project, as current committed funds total just $62.6 million of the estimated $100 million needed.
The project recently received an additional $5 million grant from the federal government. Yet even with those additional funds, and with a grant of $7.6 million obtained last year from the Southern California Association of Governments, there is still a roughly $37.4 million shortfall, as current committed funds total just $62.6 million of the estimated $100 million needed.
Meanwhile, updated plans for the bridge no longer include a covered pathway, originally to include solar panels and run for more than a mile on the outside edges of the bridge.
“Early on, there was the idea to put the structure over the bike path or the multi-use path, but as part of the design analysis, (it was determined) it wasn’t efficient to put solar panels in that mile-and-a-half-long stretch of pathway,” Hoy said. “So, we are working with the city of Palm Springs to locate that solar-energy element into the parking lot at the train station that the city owns. Basically, we’ve peeled that off of the project scope for now, because it’s being analyzed separately with the city of Palm Springs, to see what’s best.”
Hoy described Indian Canyon Drive bridge process from now to completion: “If you break it down in phases, there’s the engineering planning (now under way), and that’ll get you your initial plan of what you want to do. The next phase is environmental (reviews, now under way), which is when you go through all your special technical studies, and they have a lot of sub-consultants out there, biological, and the different specific studies you have to do. When your environmental is done (projected for summer 2026), then you can certify the right-of-way, which is a Caltrans term for identifying what right-of-way, if any, that you need. … The road is actually a city road, so we’re working within the right-of-way. The only right-of-way issues would be just temporary construction easements from neighboring properties, and that’s a process we finalize (projected in the fall of 2026) once the environmental document is completed.”
“Then you have project construction documents, which would be the design and the specifications, and you’d have those ready to go out to bid for construction (in late 2026). Michael Baker International is handling all of that.” (According to their website, MBI is “a leading provider of engineering and consulting services, including design, planning, architectural, environmental, construction and program management.”)
And, finally: “We’ll be ready for construction in June of 2027,” Hoy concluded.
Regarding the planned Vista Chino bridge over the Whitewater wash, it seems little progress has been made over the last two years.
As directed by the city of Palm Springs’ communications team, the Independent sent an email list of queries about the project to Montalvo, the city engineer. In his emailed response to the question of how far this project has progressed to date, Montalvo said, “The project has progressed to 65% complete design plans.”
Asked if he would share specifics on the stages accomplished thus far, or that are currently under way, Montalvo replied, “We are only in the design phase. We anticipate completion of 100% (of the) design plans late in 2026 or early 2027.”
When queried about the current estimated completion of the Vista Chino bridge, Montalvo said, “Currently, the estimate(d) completion of the project is late 2029 or early 2030.”