A hovercraft searches the Skagit River for survivors after a section of an Interstate 5 bridge collapsed Thursday night. Photograph by: DEAN RUTZ / THE SEATTLE TIMES
MOUNT VERNON, Wash. — An Interstate 5 bridge over the Skagit River collapsed north of Seattle Thursday evening, dumping two vehicles into the water and sparking a rescue effort by boats and divers as three injured people were pulled from the chilly waterway.
Washington State Patrol confirmed that an Edmonton-area trucker was at the wheel of a semi that struck the bridge, sending part of the span thundering into a river below. The patrol says William Scott, a 41-year-old resident of Spruce Grove, was hauling a large load Thursday night and hit a support girder.
The collision appears to have led to the collapse of the span just seconds later and two vehicles plunged into the cold swift-flowing river. Scott made it off the bridge and remained at the scene to speak to investigators.
Three people were rescued, treated and released from hospital in the bridge failure that raised the question about the safety of aging spans and cut off the main route between Seattle and Canada.
"We don't think anyone else went into the water," said Marcus Deyerin, a spokesman for the Northwest Washington Incident Management Team. "At this point we're optimistic."
The man and woman were reported in stable condition with non-life-threatening injuries in the emergency room at Skagit Valley Hospital, hospital spokeswoman Kari Ranten said. Another man was reported in stable condition at United General Hospital in Sedro-Woolley, hospital CEO Greg Reed said. He said he didn't know whether the man would be admitted.
Survivor Dan Sligh and his wife were driving their pickup truck when he said the bridge disappeared before them in a "big puff of dust."
"I hit the brakes and we went off the bridge," Sligh told reporters from Skagit Valley Hospital, adding he "saw the water approaching ... you hold on as tight as you can."
Traffic along the heavily-travelled route could be impacted for some time. The route is regularly used by Vancouver Islanders travelling into Washington.
"The I-5 corridor is totally disrupted," said Gov. Jay Inslee, who went to the scene Thursday night.
He said work has already started to design detour, but state Transportation Secretary Lynn Peterson asked people to avoid I-5 in the area for the next several days.
Washington State Trooper Mark Francis said a portion of the four-lane bridge over the Skagit River collapsed about 7 p.m.
Jeremiah Thomas, a volunteer firefighter, said he was driving nearby when he caught something out of the side of his eye and turned to look.
"The bridge just went down, it crashed through the water," he said. "It was really surreal."
It's not confirmed 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 the commercial truck driver whose rig struck the bridge.
"It appears the commercial vehicle made contact with the bridge," Francis said. "Whether it was the cause" of the collapse or made contact as the bridge was falling "that will all come out in the wash. But it appears it hit the bridge."
The four-lane bridge was about 50 feet above the water. Deyerin said it appeared that two vehicles - a car and a pickup with the travel trailer attached - fell into the river. He said the water depth was about 15 feet, and that the vehicles were half-visible in the water likely are resting on portions of the collapsed bridge.
Crowds of people lined the river to watch the scene unfold.
"It's not something you see every day," said Jimmy O'Connor, the owner of two local pizza restaurants who was driving on another bridge parallel to the one that collapsed. "People were starting to crawl out of their cars."
He said he and his girlfriend were about 400 yards away on the Burlington Bridge when they heard "just a loud bang."
"Then we looked over and saw the bridge was down in the water," he said.
He pulled over and saw three vehicles in the water, including a camping trailer that landed upside-down, he said.
The bridge is not considered structurally deficient but is listed as being "functionally obsolete" - a category meaning that the design is outdated, such as having narrow shoulders and 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 report, 42 of the county's 108 bridges 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.
Democratic Rep. Judy Clibborn, who leads the transportation committee in the state House, said the bridge wasn't one that has been a focus for lawmakers.
"It is shocking that I-5 would have something happen like this," she said.
Clibborn said the collapse will call attention to the issues facing bridges — especially the old bridge over the Columbia River that connects Vancouver and Portland, Ore.
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Baker reported from Olympia, Wash. Associated Press writers Chris Grygiel in Seattle and Terry Tang in Phoenix also contributed to this report.
A law-enforcement source said investigators believe a truck with an outsized load heading south struck the bridge, which started bouncing, then fell. The source said about 45 metres of the interstate dropped, sending a car, a truck and a travel trailer almost 40 metres down to the water. “It’s a hell of a ride,” the source said. All three people in those vehicles were rescued. They suffered minor injuries and were taken to hospital. Nobody was unaccounted for, but a dive team was doing a final sweep late Thursday, just in case. Xavier Grospe, 62, who lives near the river, said he could see three cars with what appeared to be one person per vehicle. The vehicles were sitting still in the water, partially submerged and partly above the water line, and the apparent drivers were sitting either on top of the vehicles or on the edge of open windows. “It doesn't look like anybody’s in danger right now,” Grospe said. The Skagit River Bridge is located between Burlington and Mount Vernon, about 100 kilometres north of Seattle and 128 kilometres south of Vancouver. Thousands of B.C. music fans were expected to be driving through the area Thursday night and Friday to attend the popular Sasquatch Music Festival in eastern Washington. Traffic was backed up for kilometres in both directions. Helicopter footage aired by KOMO-TV in Seattle showed several rescue boats at the bridge collapse scene with several ambulances waiting on the shore. One rescue boat left the scene with one person strapped into a stretcher. A damaged red car and a damaged pickup truck were visible in the water, which appeared so shallow it barely reached the top of the car’s hood. Washington Gov. Jay Inslee’s office said he was on his way to the scene to assess the situation. 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 U.S. 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. Democratic Rep. Judy Clibborn, who leads the transportation committee in the state House, said the bridge wasn’t one that has been a focus for lawmakers. “It isn’t anything that was on our radar screen as being an issue,” Clibborn said. “It is shocking that I-5 would have something happen like this.” 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. With files by the Associated Press and the Seattle Times
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