FYI: There ARE bridges in AZ!

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Classmate Sandi Pennar Bonesteel, a longtime Arizona resident, responds to Stan's recent rant about a dearth of river crossings in Arizona. The photo above is of what may be the most famous bridge in the world, the London Bridge, moved from its home to Arizona's Lake Havasu. So there.


Hi Stan,

There are bridges over AZ "dry rivers," as they do occasionally flood, and then the rivers are flowing, sometimes overflowing, though not quite like what you'd see in the Midwest. 
We lived in Scottsdale and Tempe during some of the years we had record flooding. 1980 was a very bad year. There was even street flooding, and one of my co-workers got caught in it with her car, causing it to stall. There were lots of traffic problems, schools and businesses closed, etc. The Mill Avenue bridge in Tempe was one of the only bridges not totally closed, but for awhile was closed to car traffic and people would have to park their cars and take a shuttle bus across in order to get back and forth to work. This involved a lot of waiting. Many people found it was easier to stay the night in a motel on the other side, rather than crossing back and forth during the work week, as this could take hours. 

The "greenbelt" area of the Indian Bend Wash came about as a solution to flooding problems in Scottsdale. With that and the newer bridges, things have improved in those areas. I don't think the flooding in the Tucson area and southern AZ is as big a problem, but I could be wrong on that. Thankfully flooding doesn't occur that often, but you always hear about the 100 year floods, so maybe our time is coming. You don't want to live near a flood plain!

Washes are everywhere, so it's impossible to bridge them, and they often flood, washing over the roads. This is more prevalant during our summer monsoons as we get "flash floods" from heavy downpours and the ground does not absorb the water fast enough. Some areas may have culverts but most do not, so the water covers the road. The winter rains are usually not as heavy, but are steady, so if we get several days of rain it becomes a problem for flooding. 
In a flooded wash area, sometimes people don't realize the water is deep enough to be a problem, and get stuck, and are often in danger. The stupid motorist law is for those who don't heed the signs warning that they shouldn't drive through if flooded (and they are not all snowbirds, either!) They feel that their vehicle can make it across or that they are safe inside their vehicle. This law came about with the high cost of rescue operations. Unfortunately, there have been tragedies, as in the case of the 6 yr. old boy being washed away from his family this week when their vehicle was stranded. 
It looks like northern AZ is getting the brunt of this bad weather coming from California. I don't mind the rain as I won't need to water for awhile! (but then again, we'll have a bumper crop of weeds this spring, bad for allergy sufferers)

Hope your visitors have good weather. My son-in-law's parents were here from Ohio this last week, and it rained just about every day. They said they preferred it to the snow and cold.

Sandi
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Thanks, Sandi. Presently it is 36 degrees in Minnesota, 38 degrees in Arizona. Go figure. Tomorrow will be beautiful though. We can see the blue skies already.