I5 Bridge Collapses

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

http://www.king5.com/news/local/Repo...208758631.html

I guess I'll be taking then long way to Baker Lake for the next few years. Thanks Canadia!

MarkGrace, Mount Vernon is north of Seattle about an hour I realize this means you've never heard of it.

[Uncle Ted]

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structurally deficient but is listed as being "functionally obsolete" - a category meaning that their design is outdated, such as having narrow shoulders or low clearance underneath, according to a database compiled by the Federal Highway Administration.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.

Given the condition of all these bridges there I am guessing that this Washington is a 3rd world country.

[Coach McGuirk]

it sounds like an oversize load hit the bridge girder causing the collapse.

[Blueintheface]

it sounds like an oversize load hit the bridge girder causing the collapse.

My wife and I heard that on the commute and both looked at each other and said "what?". A 4-lane bridge collapsed when a truck hit a girder? Sounds like a bridge that I want to travel on daily.

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

My wife and I heard that on the commute and both looked at each other and said "what?". A 4-lane bridge collapsed when a truck hit a girder? Sounds like a bridge that I want to travel on daily.

I use that bridge prob 20-30 times, round trip, a summer. This will be a major headache, hopefully people still camp at Baker Lake!

[YOhio]

I use that bridge prob 20-30 times, round trip, a summer. This will be a major headache, hopefully people still camp at Baker Lake!

Maybe now would be a good time for you to express gratitude that you weren't on that bridge when it fell. Now that would be a headache. Literally.

[Blueintheface]

Maybe now would be a good time for you to express gratitude that you weren't on that bridge when it fell. Now that would be a headache. Literally.

I can't remember if it was Wuap or LAU who told me to read your posts without assuming sarcasm and I would appreciate you more. I see that they were wrong.

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

Maybe now would be a good time for you to express gratitude that you weren't on that bridge when it fell. Now that would be a headache. Literally.

I am grateful I wasn't on the bridge yesterday and that I had gathered all of our employees to a central location for training so that we were all safe.

[FMCoug]

http://www.king5.com/news/local/Repo...208758631.html

I guess I'll be taking then long way to Baker Lake for the next few years. Thanks Canadia!

MarkGrace, Mount Vernon is north of Seattle about an hour I realize this means you've never heard of it.

I wonder if MG knows there are really pretty trees and lakes and stuff in the PNW?

[Jeff Lebowski]

Phew. Not the engineer's fault.

[Blueintheface]

I wonder if MG knows there are really pretty trees and lakes and stuff in the PNW?

We got trapped one Thanksgiving in Lynden (near Bellingham) when floods knocked the only two roads out of town. I drove up with roommates at Ricks college and we missed classes because of it. Thank you, PNW.

http://www.bellinghamherald.com/spec...l/160470.shtml

• Winter, 1990-1991: Six major storms - two floods, two Arctic windstorms and two heavy snowstorms, along with bouts of freezing rain and a silver thaw - battered the county over two months. Upward of 100,000 residents lost power. Ferry service to Lummi Island was cut off. Damage reached $30 million, and that didn't include private property damage and economic losses.

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

Now I saw my first dead body on the road, about exit 175 north of Seattle. Bad wreck body with a blanket lying over the top of it. Not a great couple of days for I5 in the Puget Sound. Yikes.

[il Padrino Ute]

Now I saw my first dead body on the road, about exit 175 north of Seattle. Bad wreck body with a blanket lying over the top of it. Not a great couple of days for I5 in the Puget Sound. Yikes.

So you didn't exactly see the body.

[Indy Coug]

Now I saw my first dead body on the road, about exit 175 north of Seattle. Bad wreck body with a blanket lying over the top of it. Not a great couple of days for I5 in the Puget Sound. Yikes.

Holy hell I hope I never witness something like that.

[smokymountainrain]

I wonder if MG knows there are really pretty trees and lakes and stuff in the PNW?

I'm wondering if anybody has let MG know there are people and businesses on the other side of that big lake on the east side of Seattle and that if you find the right places on the lake, there are actually bridges you can drive over and get all the way across. Not that he would have any reason to go over there, but it might be interesting information.