I5 Bridge Collapse in Washington

It was not known what caused the collapse of the bridge about 60 miles north of Seattle in Skagit County, but State Patrol detectives and the patrol's commercial vehicle enforcement bureau troopers were talking late Thursday night to a commercial truck driver whose rig was believed to have struck the bridge.

Thats never good..only good thing is nobody was hurt or killed in this.

 

Can you imagine being the truck driver, feeling the hit, getting out to inspect the damage on your trailer and witnessing the bridge go down?

I cannot fathom the sick feeling I would have at that point. I cannot begin to think of what my thoughts would be to see that happen and know that I was the one that caused it.

 

Confirmed that it was an OS load that caused the accident.

"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 a tractor-trailer carrying a tall load that hit an upper part of the span.

"For reasons unknown at this point in time, the semi struck the overhead of the bridge causing the collapse," he said.

The truck made it off the bridge and the driver remained at the scene and cooperated with investigators. The driver has been identified as a 42-year-old man from Alberta, Canada. He was driving for Mullen Trucking."

TS

 

Better post this over in this thread too....picture of the truck and pilot car with height pole.

 

While its not funny given what happened, my first thought after hearing that an OS load did it was

Steve Urkel saying "DID I DO THAT"

and the scene at the end of CADDYSHACK where Bill Murphy, sneaks off after blowing up most of the golf course

 

Ok....Where were the escorts since it was OH and OD?

WADOt can't be that stupid to allow a load like that to run on it's highways....Hell....I got nailed for making turn with my airbags dumped to save my tires....If they noticed that...They couldn't notice an OD load running on the ribbon?

 

So it was escorted....Remind me never to use that Escort company....Anyone catch the name on their door?

 

On a flatbed one like that would still be legal height.....Now a "High Cube" wouldn't work on a standard flat...

 

I just watched on the local news a brief interview with one of the occupants of one of the vehicles that went into the water. He had been following the OS trailer for a bit and commented to his wife that it didn't look like it was going to clear the side of the bridge because it was hanging out about 4 feet too far. As he was attempting to compensate for that another trucker decided to pass him on the bridge, preventing the OS rig from moving more towards the middle. The OS trailer hit a support beam of the bridge, a puff of dust went up and ...you know the rest.

Found a more detailed interview:

http://www.king5.com/news/local/Survivor-of-bridge-collapse-recounts-experience-208785081.html

 

The load may resemble the picture, but that is not what it is. Given the company the driver works (worked?) for, it is probably a engine or mud pump shack for a drilling rig. Typically about 10'-12' wide and 10' high.