Oversize takes out I5 bridge in Wash.

He shouldn't have been given a permit.

 

WSDOT approved it...So now????!!!!!

 

Now all we need is a dashcam vid

 

And Joan Claybrook's comments.....

 

Yep. Happens to me all the time. But if given a choice between coming to a complete stop on an interstate (never a pleasant experience) or hitting a bridge by 10 inches... I'll go ahead and wait for the a-hole steering wheel holding monkey to get past me then move left. I have to remind myself all the time that 99% of the slabs of brainless human tissue that hold steering wheels for a living have no idea that I am taller than a street sign, tree branch, or bridge. Most of them dont realize they themselves are taller than a car so how can I expect them to be thinking about MY load.

I just read a quote from the wife of the guy that hit the bridge in Washington. She said he has been hauling oversize for 10 years and gotten several safety awards, so there definitely is more to this story than a guy not knowing he was tall.

 

So I guess that bridge is now classified as "shovel ready"?

 

I hear ya Gunner. Had a few ppl challenge/barge at me while hauling OS. I've been at it for awhile myself. If I was in that situation which I wouldn't of cause I'd been in the Left lane prior to entering the structure. Good pilot cars are worth there weight in gold.

 

And bad ones cause nothing but grief and expense... DAMHIK.

 

That's what they make brakes for when the pilot car doesn't do his job if he even had a tail escort. It seems like a pilot car company should be familiar with route obstacles since they do this for a living in repeated areas... now driver when we get to this bridge you need to be in the left lane. Either way it happened the ball was dropped. Even the best drivers make mistakes. To err is human.

Then again an experienced driver wouldn't be passing an OS on a tight bridge. I always gave OS plenty of room and never passed in tight situations even if it's a guardrail.

The thing about truss design is every little part of a truss is critical to the trusses strength. Take away just one little cross member or such and you have a serious problem from sagging to collapse.

Why not? How hard is it to get out and measure? Find the low spot and post that for the whole bridge. Some act like some of these tasks are beyond Einstein.


I blame 50% on the pilot company, 20% the driver and 30% on the state.

 

Hmmm.....Maybe this load would have been better off with Two escorts....Yeah I know....It "didn't" require one....But....I have driven in the Pac-NW quite a bit.....The drivers up there are worse than the drivers in LA or Denver.....A second escort could have run a blocking move to prevent what occurred IMHO....