The Washington State Patrol says the Interstate 5 bridge over the Skagit River at Mount Vernon has collapsed, dumping vehicles and people into the water.
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 reporter saw one person sitting atop one vehicle in the water and could see a second vehicle as well.
The bridge was apparently declared structurally unsound back in 2011 but they were left with no choice but to keep it open as austerity budgeting meant that it couldn't be replaced or shut down for repairs.
The GOP Congress blocked all the program money President Obama wanted for infrastructure repair and revitalization. The blame entirely lies with the phoney fiscal "conservative" Tea Party assholes who spent money like drunken sailors when they were in charge of the government but suddenly become austere fiscal hawks when the other side wins the White House.
Authorities said no one was killed and the extent of the injuries of the three people rescued from the water remained unclear, said Marcus Deyerin, a spokesman for the Northwest Washington Incident Management Team.
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structurally deficient but is listed as being �functionally obsolete� - a category meaning that their design is outdated, such as having narrow shoulders are low clearance underneath, according to a database compiled by the Federal Highway Administration.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.
"commanderkai" said I remember being in MN when one of the main bridges in Minneapolis/St.Paul collapsed into the Mississippi River. Scary shit!
Oh yeah, that's the mental image that went through my mind reading this. Thankfully this tragedy was nowhere near that size and scope. Amen to that, brother.
"PublicAnimalNo9" said I remember being in MN when one of the main bridges in Minneapolis/St.Paul collapsed into the Mississippi River. Scary shit!
My wife and I planned to be there that day as well but our dog sitter had to cancel the day before. That bridge is our travel route to Bloomington, but it would have gone down a few hours before we'd have been on it. We went the next week and got some pictures which I posted at the time.
The reporter saw one person sitting atop one vehicle in the water and could see a second vehicle as well.
Guess they forgot about this one.
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.
I remember being in MN when one of the main bridges in Minneapolis/St.Paul collapsed into the Mississippi River. Scary shit!
Oh yeah, that's the mental image that went through my mind reading this. Thankfully this tragedy was nowhere near that size and scope.
I remember being in MN when one of the main bridges in Minneapolis/St.Paul collapsed into the Mississippi River. Scary shit!
Oh yeah, that's the mental image that went through my mind reading this. Thankfully this tragedy was nowhere near that size and scope.
Amen to that, brother.
I remember being in MN when one of the main bridges in Minneapolis/St.Paul collapsed into the Mississippi River. Scary shit!
My wife and I planned to be there that day as well but our dog sitter had to cancel the day before. That bridge is our travel route to Bloomington, but it would have gone down a few hours before we'd have been on it. We went the next week and got some pictures which I posted at the time.