Lots of rust on that bridge wheres the maintence? The bridge was also built in 1955. No upkeep on it probably explains why it collapsed. Not to mention this info from www.oregonlive.com
That red color isn't rust. It's primer where the surface peeled off in the fall. The bridge is inspected every couple of years and we're told that it's holding up well. The speed limit is 60 but many do 70 over it. Without it, the trail of deliveries between Seattle and Canada stops cold for driving, though not for rail or flying. I used to live there. The end of the bridge was my off ramp and on ramp, College Way. Now I'm 25 miles north, listening to the freeway, and it's moving at 4:30 am, 9 1/2 hours after the truck went through the support. I hope it isn't stop and go during work hours. Here's the best witness. The opening picture is the truck that caused it. http://www.king5.com/home/Witness-recounts-oversized-truck-striking-bridge-208767601.html
21 pictures http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Sk...ar s people seen/8427846/story.html?tab=PHOT 43 pictures http://www.king5.com/news/local/Rep...er-cars-in-water-208758631.html?gallery=y&c=y 12 pictures http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2013/05/23/3022109/skagit-river-bridge-collapse.html This is the truck. The van section had no sides, so it was empty, so the cause was width, not weight. The official analysis from the really official final report Nice day for sailing your rubber ducky. (Film is silent.) [video=youtube;9ZAR7hbcBsA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZAR7hbcBsA#storylink=relast [/video]
Our Reason Foundation study, "Examining 20 Years of U.S. Highway and Bridge Performance Trends," found Washington ranked 34th out of 50 states in terms of making progress reducing its percentage of deficient and functionally obsolete bridges from 1989 to 2008.
Update: MOUNT VERNON, Wash. (AP) - A truck hauling a too-tall load of drilling equipment hit an overhead bridge girder on the major interstate between Seattle and Canada, sending a section of the span and two vehicles into the Skagit River. All three occupants suffered only minor injuries. It happened about 7 p.m. Thursday on the north section of the four-lane Interstate 5 bridge near Mount Vernon, about 60 miles north of Seattle and 40 miles south of the Canada border, and disrupted travel in both directions. The Washington State Patrol said the truck the driver works for Mullen Trucking in Alberta. The tractor-trailer, which was marked as an oversize load, was hauling a housing for drilling equipment Vancouver, Wash., when the top right front corner of the load struck several trusses on the north end of the bridge, the patrol said. The driver, William Scott, of Spruce Grove, Alberta, near Edmonton, voluntarily gave a blood sample for an alcohol test and was not arrested. Initially, it wasn't clear if the bridge just gave way on its own. But at an overnight news conference, Washington State Patrol Chief John Batiste blamed it on the too-tall load. The vertical clearance from the roadway to the beam is 14.6 feet. The truck made it off the bridge and the driver remained at the scene and cooperated with investigators. Two other vehicles went into the water about 25 feet below as the structure crumbled. Three people were rescued and were recovering Friday. The trucking company said it received a state-issued permit to carry its oversized load across the bridge.
plenty of blame to go around, imho. We've let our bridges and roads go to pot, because we've invested in wars and bailouts galore.
too bad this wasn't shovel-ready when $800B in stimulus money was going around . I mean, you probably can't fix a bridge for half a million (who knows?), but giving the Forest Service in WA $554,763 in 2009 to replace windows in Visitor Center closed in 2007 probably didn't help. Or the $712,000 to build a "joke machine". Or not repaving a runway in Johnstown, PA for an airport (that cost ~$150B) that no one except John Murtha. Etc.
I just got a text from my friend who lives in Mt. Vernon. First of all.....I love the guy. But, anything that can ever possibly go wrong will happen to him. Just one of those people. And of course, he was one of the 3 cars that went into the river. Luckily he is alright. Crazy.
It collapsed because a truck that was too tall for the bridge hit a cross beam. There was no bridge height given prior to crossing the bridge, apparently.
This bridge was in solid shape. It was compromised structurally when the too tall truck tried to cross it. There was also a $867 billion 'stimulus bill' that ended up becoming recycled money instead of actual projects. [video=youtube;4p4-vPrcDBo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4p4-vPrcDBo[/video]
This is why I don't blame the politicians, as everyone else does, for not coughing up the half-billion dollar, 100% taxpayer-financed stadium that Bennett and Stern demanded. Your friend has a dignified nose, but must be cold in his t-shirt.
You are like a local reporter with your posts in this thread. Good stuff man, but waiting for you to interview the witnesses . . . and HP
if a bridge is hit by a truck, even if it's too big, and it collapses, it's not structurally sound. Bridges are supposed to take on some damage, abuse, and not collapse like that.
Link? The bridge had been inspected since the Stimulus was passed. Love you libs trying to make this a political issue, though.
