Thread: I-5 bridge collapses in NW Wash.; people in water

I-5 bridge collapses in NW Wash.; people in water
AP/ May 23, 2013, 11:44 PM

A scene of the I-5 bridge collapses in NW Wash. on May 23, 2013 / Twitter/dustystarling/KIRO


Updated 11:44 PM ET
MOUNT VERNON, Wash. An Interstate 5 bridge over a river north of Seattle collapsed Thursday evening, dumping vehicles and people into the water, the Washington State Patrol said.
The four-lane bridge over the Skagit River collapsed about 7 p.m., Trooper Mark Francis said. There was no immediate estimate of how many people were in the water or whether there were any injuries or deaths, he said.
It also was not known what caused the collapse of the bridge about 60 miles north of Seattle in Skagit County, which stretches from the North Cascades National Park to a cluster of islands off the Washington coast.
Xavier Grospe, 62, who lives near the river, said he could see three cars with what appeared to be one person per vehicle. The vehicles were sitting still in the water, partially submerged and partly above the waterline, and the apparent drivers were sitting either on top of the vehicles or on the edge of open windows.
"It doesn't look like anybody's in danger right now," Grospe said.
Helicopter footage aired by KOMO-TV in Seattle showed several rescue boats at the bridge collapse scene with several ambulances waiting on the shore. One rescue boat left the scene with one person strapped into a stretcher.
A damaged red car and a damaged pickup truck were visible in the water, which appeared so shallow it barely reached the top of the car's hood.
Crowds of people lined the river to watch the scene unfold.
The bridge is not considered structurally deficient but is listed as being "functionally obsolete" — a category meaning that their design is outdated, such as having narrow shoulders are low clearance underneath, according to a database compiled by the Federal Highway Administration.
The bridge was built in 1955 and has a sufficiency rating of 57.4 out of 100, according to federal records. That is well below the statewide average rating of 80, according to an Associated Press analysis of federal data, but 759 bridges in the state have a lower sufficiency score.
According to a 2012 Skagit County Public Works Department, 42 of the county's 108 bridges that are 50 years or older. The document says eight of the bridges are more than 70 years old and two are over 80.
Washington state was given a C in the American Society of Civil Engineers' 2013 infrastructure report card and a C- when it came to the state's bridges. The group said more than a quarter of Washington's 7,840 bridges are considered structurally deficient of functionally obsolete.
　
　
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57586023/i-5-bridge-collapses-in-nw-wash.-people-in-water/

Bridge collapses in Wash. state; people in water

William M. Welch, USA TODAY12:24 a.m. EDT May 24, 2013


A portion of the Interstate 5 bridge is submerged after it collapsed into the Skagit River in Mount Vernon, Wash., on Thursday.(Photo: Frank Varga, AP)


The Interstate 5 bridge over the Skagit River in northern Washington state collapsed Thursday evening, sending vehicles and people into the water, the state patrol said.
Trooper Mark Francis told USA Today that two lanes in both directions collapsed.
No cause was known at this time, he said, and it was unknown how many vehicles were in the water or if there were deaths or injuries.
Washington state Department of Transportation spokesman Travis Phelps told KOMO-TV that investigators are looking into the possibility that an oversize load struck the bridge and triggered the collapse.
Interstate 5 is closed in both directions, Francis said. Phelps said the collapse means that commuters on the heavily traveled highway will have to find alternate routes "for the foreseeable future.''
"This is going to be a long term situation,'' Phelps said. "This is tragic. Unbelievable.''
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The collapse occurred around 7 p.m. PT, Francis said. The location is near Mount Vernon, Wash., in Skagit County, about an hour's drive north of Seattle.
A Skagit Valley Herald reporter at the scene said a sheriff's office rescue boat has arrived and rescue crews were looking for people in the water, the Associated Press reported. The reporter saw one person sitting atop one vehicle in the water and could see a second vehicle as well.
Crowds of people lined the river to watch the scene unfold, the newspaper reported.
KOMO-TV aired video from a helicopter showing the collapsed bridge with rescuers working from shore and a motorboat to search for people.
At least two vehicles, a truck and automobile, could be seen in the water on the collapsed bridge section.
The river did not appear to be deep or fast-flowing at the time of the collapse. KOMO said the depth appeared to be about 10 feet.
KOMO reported that at least two people were taken to a hospital.
The bridge is the main route for traffic between the Seattle metro area and Vancouver, Canada.
The Seattle Times reported that bridge was built in 1955 and was classified by the National Bridge Inventory as "functionally obsolete" in both 2000 and 2010. But it said the Washington Department of Transportation does not list it among its list of "structurally deficient bridges."
People look on after the Interstate 5 bridge collapsed over the Skagit River in Mount Vernon, Wash., on Thursday.
(Photo: Selina Dziura, NWCN via AP)
　
　
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/05/23/washington-skagit-river-bridge-collapse/2356801/

William M. Welch and Doug Stanglin, USA TODAY11:14 a.m. EDT May 24, 2013

The bridge, listed as 'functionally obsolete,' was inspected twice in 2012 and repaired.


In this photo provided by Francisco Rodriguez, rescue workers head to the scene where a pickup truck and a car fell into the Skagit River after the collapse of the Interstate 5 bridge Thursday.(Photo: Francisco Rodriguez, AP)
Story Highlights

• The bridge is on a major artery between Seattle and Canada

The collapse of the Interstate-5 bridge over the Skagit River in Washington State was triggered by a truck with a excessively tall load hitting a steel girder, sending two vehicles into the icy water 50-feet below, Washington State Patrol Chief John Batiste said Friday.
Three people were hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries Thursday evening, but there were no fatalities.
Batiste said the truck, which was carrying drilling rig equipment, struck a bridge support girder, setting off a chain reaction. The vertical clearance from the roadway to the beam is 14.6 feet.
"For reasons unknown at this point in time, the semi struck the overhead of the bridge causing the collapse," Batiste said.
The truck made it off the bridge and the driver remained at the scene and cooperated with investigators.
The 1,111-foot steel-and-concrete bridge, built in 1955, is listed by the National Bridge Inventory as "fracture critical," which means that the entire structure can be brought down if even one major part fails, The Seattle Times reported.
Bridges that have redundant features are designed to remain intact if one a single section is damaged.

Mount Vernon, Washington
Dan Sligh, 47, and his wife Sally were off on a Memorial Day camping trip in their pickup truck when the bridge stretching out ahead suddenly disappeared in a "big puff of dust."
"I hit the brakes and we went off," Sligh told reporters from a hospital, adding he "saw the water approaching ... you hold on as tight as you can."
Sligh said he dislocated his shoulder but managed to climb out of the vehicle. His wife was knocked unconscious, and he kept her head above water until rescuers arrived more than an hour later.
The collapsed Interstate-5 bridge is seen at dusk submerged after collapsing into the Skagit River, dumping vehicles and people into the water, in Mount Vernon, Wash. Three people were injured but there were no fatalities.(Photo: Elaine Thompson, AP)

Emergency teams also rescued one man sitting on top of his car, prompting bystanders to applaud when he reached dry land.
Jeremiah Thomas, a volunteer firefighter, said he was driving nearby when he glimpsed something out of the corner of his eye and turned to look.
"The bridge just went down, it crashed through the water," he said. "It was really surreal."
State officials said it could be weeks before the bridge, which carries 70,000 cars a day, can be reopened.
That will be a headache for local and long-dsitance travelrs, as I-5 is the main artery between Seattle, 60 miles south, and Canada.
Batiste urged drivers to avoid the area if possible, especially over the Memorial Day weekend.
"We Washingtonians are going to have to do what we do best, which is to hold together, to show strength of character and a good deal of patience," Gov. Jay Inslee said in a late-night news conference at the scene.
The bridge, which was classified by the NBI as "functionally obsolete," was inspected twice last year and repaired, according to the state Transportation Secretary Lynn Peterson.
The 58-year-old bridge has a sufficiency rating of 57.4 out of 100, according to federal records. That is well below the statewide average rating of 80, according to an Associated Press analysis of federal data, but 759 bridges in the state have a lower sufficiency score.
According to a 2012 Skagit County Public Works Department report, 42 of the county's 108 bridges are 50 years or older. The document says eight of the bridges are more than 70 years old and two are over 80.
Washington state was given a C in the American Society of Civil Engineers' 2013 infrastructure report card and a C- when it came to the state's bridges. The group said more than a quarter of Washington's 7,840 bridges are considered structurally deficient or functionally obsolete.
The National Transportation Safety Board announced it is launching an investigation into the collapse.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/05/24/bridge-washington-state-collapsed-truck/2357389/
Contributing: Associated Press