I-5 Shut Down At Mt Vernon, Wa.

[GeorgeS]

About 7PM Pacific time, Wide Load truck hit the I-5 Bridge over the Skagit River near

Mt. Vernon, Wa. One bridge section fell into river. I-5 Closed, north and South between Seattle and the Canadian border.

 

There are Detour's -- 3 Vehicals into the River, nobody killed.

 

Load hit girder, truck rolled, and then the entire section fell into the river !!

 

Anyway, just in case anybody is interested !!

[ragtop69gs]

OOPS an expensive error!

[djh3]

Wow weak link in that bridge found I guess. Saw pics last night, sort of reminded me of the bridge that fell in the river in Mineapolis a few years back. Glad to hear result was more fortunate. Many of our roads and bridges are in structual distress and have not been looked after or repaired.

[Condor]

According to this mornings news an over height truck struck a few girders in the overhead structure, and down she came. I would have thought a few bent beams wouldn't have brought it down??? In the pics you can see a couple of bent beams above the slow lane. Anyway it didn't take much.... Scarry....

Musta caused the 5.7 earthquake we had down here last night...

[Peder_y2k]

Amazing......Google maps already shows the gap! It's only 12 hours later.

[rickardracing]

Bridge was classified as funtionally unstable and fracture criticle last year. Meaning that if any ONE component were to fail, the whole thing could come down. Guess what? It did. The bridge was kept open even after it was inspected and found to be unsafe. Time for some poeple to lawyer up.

[GeorgeS]

About 10 PM last nite, on TV news. ( local station ) There was a witness saw the

" Wide Load " tractor trailor rigs, High Load, Hit the girder, the Truck Rolled, according to the whitness ( sombody nearby, not driveing across bridge )

 

Apparently they did not correctly Measure the height of the load. Or, forgot to check what the " Clearances" were on the route they were takeing.

 

So as I understand it, the bridge did not fail !! It was hit by the trucks, " LOAD " and damaged by that, and then went down.

[Guest Swifty]

dam Canucks don't know how to drive, EH?!

I wonder when Google satellite photos will be updated?

[GeorgeS]

OK later this afternoon, was listioning to Ham Radio, 2 meter, repeater , Seattle area that is owned and run by a group of Truckers. ( while working on my RSTD of course , getting ready for a road trip )

 

-- OK, this guy said, as best I understood him. ( A trucker ) . Something to the effect that a Pickup Truck, pulling an RV of some kind, cut Off the Large truck, carrying the " Wide " over size load.

The Trucker swerved to avoid hitting the guy in the pickup truck, this caused his Oversize Load to " Strike the Bridge " or Engage the bridge, and this caused the big rig to roll over.

 

I guess the strike took out a girter or two, and the bridge then failed.

 

The Pick up, and the Big Rig, and one other car, ended up In the River.

 

Nobody was killed.

 

I'm waiting to find out, just " What " ??? the oversize load consisted of ????

 

But, IF, it was something like a D-8 Caterpiller ?????? Well, you can let your imagination run wild on that !!!

[Miles]

Okay, there is a lot of speculation going on, and I am here to be the voice of reason, and tell you what really happened. These are the facts:

 

A large truck (18 wheeler) hauling an oversized load, out of B.C., with an oversized load permit, and an escort vehicle in front of it, was trying to cross the Skagit River Bridge, and as it approached the bridge from the north side...going southbound...it attempted to move toward the center of the two southbound lanes...and at the last moment another large truck (18 wheeler) tried to pass this oversized load, forcing the oversized load driver to veer hard right back into his own lane, causing the oversized load to strike and hit the bridge girders on the far right side of the bridge.

 

The oversized load ripped out several of the trellis support girders on the right side of the bridge, and the truck with the oversized load was able to make it all the way across the bridge, but in his rear view mirrors he saw the bridge collapse behind him. He pulled over to the right shoulder after crossing the bridge.

 

The other large truck...(18 wheeler) that made the stupid move of passing the oversized load...also made it across the bridge, and fled the scene. While both truck drivers are at fault, it was the truck driver in the left lane that went flying by the oversized load that really caused this accident.

 

The pickup that was towing a camper trailer...that was immediately behind the oversized truck load, saw everything, and reported all of this to the state patrol. It was this pickup truck...that was towing the camper trailer...and one more car (looked like a red Ford Focus) that went into the river. The ONLY two vehicles to go into the river were the pickup truck that was towing the camper trailer, and the small red Ford Focus. No other vehicles went into the river.

 

The driver of the pickup truck that was towing the trailer dislocated his shoulder in the accident, and when he realized the shock of what happened...he actually put his pickup in Park...set the E-Brake, tried to undo his seatbelt, realized his shoulder was dislocated...he popped it back into place, checked on his wife that was sitting in the passenger seat, she was knocked out...he got her to wake up, she freaked out, he calmed her down, water was getting higher on her side of the pickup, so he dragger her over to his side, and he stepped out onto his running board.

 

That is when he saw the driver of the small red Ford Focus, that was now getting out of his car and climbing on top of it.

 

All victims were taken to the Skagit Valley Medical Center. There were NO deaths. The two men have been released from the medical center, but the woman is still in there, just for observation.

 

The driver of the pickup truck...the one that dislocated his shoulder, and then popped it back in place...is a Chief Petty Officer in the US Navy.

 

He was very level headed and cognizant when he explained all of this to the WA. State Patrol. The State Patrol would love to find that other truck driver...the speedy one...that felt he just had to pass the oversized load at the very moment that the oversized load was trying to cross this bridge.

 

[kevin-vic-b.c.]

Okay, there is a lot of speculation going on, and I am here to be the voice of reason, and tell you what really happened. These are the facts:

 

A large truck (18 wheeler) hauling an oversized load, out of B.C., with an oversized load permit, and an escort vehicle in front of it, was trying to cross the Skagit River Bridge, and as it approached the bridge from the north side...going southbound...it attempted to move toward the center of the two southbound lanes...and at the last moment another large truck (18 wheeler) tried to pass this oversized load, forcing the oversized load driver to veer hard right back into his own lane, causing the oversized load to strike and hit the bridge girders on the far right side of the bridge.

 

The oversized load ripped out several of the trellis support girders on the right side of the bridge, and the truck with the oversized load was able to make it all the way across the bridge, but in his rear view mirrors he saw the bridge collapse behind him. He pulled over to the right shoulder after crossing the bridge.

 

The other large truck...(18 wheeler) that made the stupid move of passing the oversized load...also made it across the bridge, and fled the scene. While both truck drivers are at fault, it was the truck driver in the left lane that went flying by the oversized load that really caused this accident.

 

The pickup that was towing a camper trailer...that was immediately behind the oversized truck load, saw everything, and reported all of this to the state patrol. It was this pickup truck...that was towing the camper trailer...and one more car (looked like a red Ford Focus) that went into the river. The ONLY two vehicles to go into the river were the pickup truck that was towing the camper trailer, and the small red Ford Focus. No other vehicles went into the river.

 

The driver of the pickup truck that was towing the trailer dislocated his shoulder in the accident, and when he realized the shock of what happened...he actually put his pickup in Park...set the E-Brake, tried to undo his seatbelt, realized his shoulder was dislocated...he popped it back into place, checked on his wife that was sitting in the passenger seat, she was knocked out...he got her to wake up, she freaked out, he calmed her down, water was getting higher on her side of the pickup, so he dragger her over to his side, and he stepped out onto his running board.

 

That is when he saw the driver of the small red Ford Focus, that was now getting out of his car and climbing on top of it.

 

All victims were taken to the Skagit Valley Medical Center. There were NO deaths. The two men have been released from the medical center, but the woman is still in there, just for observation.

 

The driver of the pickup truck...the one that dislocated his shoulder, and then popped it back in place...is a Chief Petty Officer in the US Navy.

 

He was very level headed and cognizant when he explained all of this to the WA. State Patrol. The State Patrol would love to find that other truck driver...the speedy one...that felt he just had to pass the oversized load at the very moment that the oversized load was trying to cross this bridge.

 

 

 

Just one thing to add, though the truck had come to the US via BC it had originated in Alberta and was carrying a drilling unit to Vancouver Wa.

[Phoneman1981]

Glad no one was seriously hurt. Man what a story to tell your Grand kids!!!! They would never believe it without pictures.

[GeorgeS]

I been listioning to news reports, last night, and this morning. Your information has far more detail then anything I have heard so far on the TV News. Thanks !!

 

I saw the video, from a Security camera , across the river, It was Amazing, how fast the Section of bridge went down into the water !!