I-5 bridge callapse

[19polara64]

I-5 bridge collapse, Skagit Co, WA. http://www.king5.com/news/local/Rep...ver-Skagit-River-cars-in-water-208758631.html

 

[Meep-Meep]

Holy crap!! I hope things didn't turn out as bad as they seem. It will be difficult to not politicize this but I can see it coming and may have a few comments myself. Bottom line I hope everyone got out OK.

 

[67 B-body]

WOW! I've been across that bridge MANY times!!!!!! That's just before Route 20 to head over onto Whidbey Island across Deception Pass.

 

[306Doba]

Witnesses said they saw at least one vehicle, an early model orange dodge, attempt to jump the gap while running from police.

''I couldn't believe it'' said one witness ''This old muscle car comes flying down the road, police hot on it's tail, and you could still hear the engine accelerating even though it was quite obvious the bridge was out. Even the police cars never backed off. Next thing I knew this car was flying through the air over the river, you could actually hear the occupants yelling with joy, it didn't look like he was going to make it to the other side but somehow he did. A couple cop cars tried to follow him but ended up in the water in a hilarious fashion''

 

[A383Wing]

Bridge was built in 1955, last inspected Aug of 2010...deemed fair to satisfactory and also deemed functionally obsolete ...wondering what WDOT will have to say about that?

now the news is saying that a truck had hit the girders as it was going over...still should not have collapsed. My niece was up there...did not hear from her for over an hour...my sister was a little worried....but she called saying that she was OK

 

[19polara64]

Eyewitness account says oversize load hit upper right corner of bridge, tipping the truck up about 30*, it came back down and made it off the bridge, bridge came down right behind it.

 

[440+6]

Witnesses said they saw at least one vehicle, an early model orange dodge, attempt to jump the gap while running from police.

''I couldn't believe it'' said one witness ''This old muscle car comes flying down the road, police hot on it's tail, and you could still hear the engine accelerating even though it was quite obvious the bridge was out. Even the police cars never backed off. Next thing I knew this car was flying through the air over the river, you could actually hear the occupants yelling with joy, it didn't look like he was going to make it to the other side but somehow he did. A couple cop cars tried to follow him but ended up in the water in a hilarious fashion''

It was the Duke boys.

 

[Moparsmitty]

This bridge is about 8 miles south of my house. Amazingly nobody was killed or severely injured. The traffic around here is going to be AFU for a long time as there are really no good alternate routes around this bridge. I'm also amazed that this trucking company and driver that are hauling such an outsized load don't bother to check the clearances along their intended route. All of the bridge clearance information is readily available on WSDOT's website. I'm guessing that this trucker's insurance isn't going to cover even a small percentage of the cost of replacing this bridge, not to mention the cost to the businesses that use the bridge every day.

 

[Budnicks]

Eyewitness account says oversize load hit upper right corner of bridge, tipping the truck up about 30*, it came back down and made it off the bridge, bridge came down right behind it.

That's what I heard too...

 

[Photon440]

This bridge is about 8 miles south of my house. Amazingly nobody was killed or severely injured. The traffic around here is going to be AFU for a long time as there are really no good alternate routes around this bridge. I'm also amazed that this trucking company and driver that are hauling such an outsized load don't bother to check the clearances along their intended route. All of the bridge clearance information is readily available on WSDOT's website. I'm guessing that this trucker's insurance isn't going to cover even a small percentage of the cost of replacing this bridge, not to mention the cost to the businesses that use the bridge every day.

The driver, familiar with this route many times over the years, did have all necessary permits. There was a tiny bit of damage to his load. I don't think the bridge was as strong as it ought to be.

 

[wannadrag]

Those overhead truss bridges should all be replaced,they were never designed for the loads of today plus most dont have much for clearence.I wonder how many times it was blasted and repainted.I've been building bridges here in WI for 25 years and most of those are gone and the ones that do remain are in parks or used on rec trails with no vehicle traffic.The ones i have worked on here in the rust belt are always rusty and rotted on the ends over the abutments were the salt sits.Good thing no one was killed now it can be replaced like it should of been 10 years ago.

 

[pabster]

No money to fix aging infrastructure... money already sent to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Egypt, Saudi, Israel, etc...

 

[satman72]

So , a truck, hitting a girder, but makes it across the bridge with minimal damage to the truck... and this causes the bridge deck to collapse?

Why does this sound weird to me?

Hell, I'm no structural engineer but this doesn't make sense to me.

 

[pabster]

So , a truck, hitting a girder, but makes it across the bridge with minimal damage to the truck... and this causes the bridge deck to collapse?

Why does this sound weird to me?

Hell, I'm no structural engineer but this doesn't make sense to me.

I wasn't designed to take a "critical hit".

http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2021046062_bridgesafetyxml.html

Although if a truck trailer clipping a few trusses is "critical", then every bridge designed this way is a death trap.

 

[Cranky]

So , a truck, hitting a girder, but makes it across the bridge with minimal damage to the truck... and this causes the bridge deck to collapse?

Why does this sound weird to me?

Hell, I'm no structural engineer but this doesn't make sense to me.

You've never seen anything just fail when it wasn't being used after years of abuse?

 

[ws27]

So , a truck, hitting a girder, but makes it across the bridge with minimal damage to the truck... and this causes the bridge deck to collapse?

Why does this sound weird to me?

Hell, I'm no structural engineer but this doesn't make sense to me.

Satman, I was thinking the same thing. What no one is talking about is that the truck made it through the rest of the bridge with out taking out all the other spans. Everyone seems to be assuming when they say over sized truck that the truck was too big legally. Think about it, if that truck hit one beam, he should have hit others. I'll bet you we'll find out later that the span was already falling and what he hit was lower than the rest.

- - - Updated - - -

No money to fix aging infrastructure... money already sent to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Egypt, Saudi, Israel, etc...

Pabster, please if you don't want to partake in political discussions where it's appropriate, please don't subject others here. Shame on you.

Sorry, I usually don't attack , but this really shouldn't be here.

 

[Moparsmitty]

The driver, familiar with this route many times over the years, did have all necessary permits. There was a tiny bit of damage to his load. I don't think the bridge was as strong as it ought to be.

I agree that the bridge is an old design and doesn't have the redundancy that it probably should have. That said, the bridge didn't go down until it was hit by the over height height load on the back of the semi-trailer. The WSDOT website says that the bridge has a 14' 3' clearance at it's minimum point in the right lane. A pilot car was being used to lead the truck on the freeway and this pilot car had an over height pole attached to it that was hitting the top of the bridge as he he was leading the truck across the bridge according to witnesses. Anyone can make a mistake and I feel bad for the driver, but It's ultimately up to him to be sure of the dimensions of any outsized load he's carrying and plan his route accordingly. He may have had permits, but the state doesn't measure the load.

 

[satman72]

I agree that the bridge is an old design and doesn't have the redundancy that it probably should have. That said, the bridge didn't go down until it was hit by the over height height load on the back of the semi-trailer. The WSDOT website says that the bridge has a 14' 3' clearance at it's minimum point in the right lane. A pilot car was being used to lead the truck on the freeway and this pilot car had an over height pole attached to it that was hitting the top of the bridge as he he was leading the truck across the bridge according to witnesses. Anyone can make a mistake and I feel bad for the driver, but It's ultimately up to him to be sure of the dimensions of any outsized load he's carrying and plan his route accordingly. He may have had permits, but the state doesn't measure the load.

So then, if he was oversized to hit one girder, he should have hit every other girder along the bridge and ripped the hell out of the truck. My understanding is that he hit the first one, and then made it across the bridge with minimal damage to the truck and the bridge. After he drove on, the bridge deck collapsed.

Would hitting an overhead span really weaken a bridge enough to cause the deck to collapse?

 

[wannadrag]

I've worked on beam repairs on overpasses where a over height load just hit the 1st girder and made it past the rest.Some of the time it will dump there air or squash down whatever there hauling.We have one to do shortly and it isnt cheap to do,pickup eye on a wind tower caught the 1st 2 girders going in and the last one coming out.Bid is over a million to replace the 3 girders and and pour the new deck and parapet wall in the damaged areas.The crown in the overpass saved wrecking more.

 

[Moparsmitty]

So then, if he was oversized to hit one girder, he should have hit every other girder along the bridge and ripped the hell out of the truck. My understanding is that he hit the first one, and then made it across the bridge with minimal damage to the truck and the bridge. After he drove on, the bridge deck collapsed.

Would hitting an overhead span really weaken a bridge enough to cause the deck to collapse?

Absolutely. In truss type bridges the entire structure is holding up the roadbed. The failure of any of the structural elements (steel girders in this case) can cause the failure of the entire span. It's almost like a house of cards, if one card goes down, the entire house goes with it. Newer types of bridge construction have a better chance of surviving an event like an earthquake, windstorm or the mechanical damage that this bridge had.