The Interstate 5 Bridge over the Skagit River in Northwestern Washington State collapsed on Thursday evening, dumping vehicles and people into the river. State troopers are not certain if there were any injuries or deaths but someone best pray.
Thursday night, the partial collapse of a heavily used river bridge on Interstate 5 caused no deaths, but as the long holiday weekend began it underscored the vulnerability of a transportation system that hinges not just on high-profile water crossings and tunnels, but on thousands of ordinary and unremarked components that travelers take for granted.
A 160-foot section of the 58-year-old four-lane steel truss bridge, which crosses the Skagit River about an hour north of Seattle, crumpled around 7 p.m., apparently after being struck by a truck carrying an oversize load, state officials said. Three people were injured, however none of them were fatally wounded when vehicles went into the river.
But the ripple effects of the collapse could be huge — for commuters, freight haulers, residents and businesses around the bridge on detour routes and for politicians in Olympia, Washington’s capital. Lawmakers have been loudly and publicly wrestling over the hundreds of millions of dollars in state money needed to replace another aging bridge over the Columbia River that separates Oregon and Washington farther south on the Interstate 5 corridor.
