Another Interstate Bridge Collapse

[Star]

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The tax cut culture strikes again!


I-5 bridge collapses over Skagit River; cars in the water | The Today File | Seattle Times


Posted by Brian M. Rosenthal




An Interstate 5 bridge collapsed into the Skagit River on Thursday evening, dumping cars and people into the waters north of Mount Vernon.

Washington State Patrol spokesman Mark Francis wrote on Twitter at 7:19 p.m. that both the northbound and southbound lanes had collapsed in the water.

Francis told the Associated Press he did not know how many people were in the water, whether there were any injuries or what caused the collapse.

Rescue efforts were under way soon after as dozens of people gathered on the shore to watch. A reporter on the scene said he saw a rescue boat take at least one person to shore amid cheers from the spectators.

Photographs of the collapse circulating on Twitter and Facebook showed a wide gap in the bridge and at least two vehicles in the water.

The bridge, built in 1955, was classified by the National Bridge Inventory as “functionally obsolete” in both 2000 and 2010. But the Washington Department of Transportation does not list it among its list of “structurally deficient bridges.”

Traffic around the site was backed up for miles.
U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen released a statement saying in part that he encourages “people to follow police instructions and stay away from the site of the collapse to let first responders address the situation safely.”

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[Seawytch]

God dammit, we need infrastructure spending!!!!

 

[Clementine]

The bridge was old and should have been fixed already- before the sequester, which merely reduces future spending by a trivial amount.

Is everything that goes wrong going to get blamed on cuts? Obama has had five years to address stuff like this, but has been too busy worrying about other issues, like abortion, birth control and granting amnesty to millions of illegals.

There haven't been any deep cuts. Obama supporters keep trying to claim that he spent less than anyone, so maybe you should direct your complaints to White House website if you really believe his spending less was the cause of this.

 

[boedicca]

Gee, another shovel ready project that could have been done with Stimulus funds instead of pouring money into Solyndra.

 

[Wolfsister77]

Just like the I-35W Mississippi River bridge collapse here in 2007. Happened during rush hour and killed 13 people. I'll never forget it or the images. It carried about 145,000 vehicles daily. You'd think that would be important enough to invest in but apparently not. It was judged "structurally deficient" in 2005 and wasn't scheduled for replacement until 2020-budget issues.

 

[Missourian]

The bridge was built in 1953 and was last inspected in June 2011. At that time, the deck condition was listed as satisfactory (6 out of 9), the superstructure conduction rating was satisfactory (6 out of 9) and the sufficiency rating was 54.9 (out of 100).

Read more: BREAKING: I-5 bridge collapses over Skagit River; vehicles, people in water | Q13 FOX News
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[Clementine]

Gee, another shovel ready project that could have been done with Stimulus funds instead of pouring money into Solyndra.

Exactly. Some of the stim money was given to people for playing video games. Billions were wasted on Solyndra and those other green energy companies that quickly went belly up. We should demand to know where every penny went, but no media watchdogs were on the case.

Everything is going to get blamed on the sequester, Obama's sequester. Libs need to remember that.

 

[Political Junky]

Some of us have been asking for infrastructure work for a long time. This bridge was "functionally obsolete", as are many others. How many have to die?

 

[Seawytch]

The bridge was old and should have been fixed already- before the sequester, which merely reduces future spending by a trivial amount.

Is everything that goes wrong going to get blamed on cuts? Obama has had five years to address stuff like this, but has been too busy worrying about other issues, like abortion, birth control and granting amnesty to millions of illegals.

There haven't been any deep cuts. Obama supporters keep trying to claim that he spent less than anyone, so maybe you should direct your complaints to White House website if you really believe his spending less was the cause of this.

Old? It was built 60 years ago.

The President has been talking about infrastructure spending since he was a candidate. Who is stopping it?

 

[dilloduck]

the "sequester" is horse shit. Merely a method of cutting so no one can tell for sure who is too blame. Pure cowardice

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

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The tax cut culture strikes again!

"You never let a serious crisis go to waste." - Rahm Emanuel

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

Didn't realize we had so many structural engineers here. Who knew? It's amazing how you all know what caused this before there's been any investigation and while the bodies are still warm. Stay classy as always, folks.

 

[Clementine]

The bridge was old and should have been fixed already- before the sequester, which merely reduces future spending by a trivial amount.

Is everything that goes wrong going to get blamed on cuts? Obama has had five years to address stuff like this, but has been too busy worrying about other issues, like abortion, birth control and granting amnesty to millions of illegals.

There haven't been any deep cuts. Obama supporters keep trying to claim that he spent less than anyone, so maybe you should direct your complaints to White House website if you really believe his spending less was the cause of this.

Old? It was built 60 years ago.

The President has been talking about infrastructure spending since he was a candidate. Who is stopping it?

Yea, 60 years is old for a bridge that has a large volume of traffic. Obama talked about infastructure as a candidate, but what has he done in the last 5 years? Look at all the stimulus money that was supposed to go for stuff like this.

 

[waltky]

Another bridge collapse, this time in Washington State...

I-5 bridge collapses in NW Wash.; people in water
May. 24 — An Interstate 5 bridge over a river north of Seattle collapsed Thursday evening, dumping vehicles and people into the water.

There was no immediate estimate of how many people were in the water or whether there were any injuries or deaths. Trooper Mark Francis said a portion of the four-lane bridge over the Skagit River collapsed about 7 p.m. Kari Ranten, a spokeswoman for Skagit Valley Hospital, said two people who were injured in the collapse were en route to the facility. She said another person was being transported to a different area hospital. It also was not known what caused the collapse of the bridge about 60 miles north of Seattle in Skagit County, which stretches from the North Cascades National Park to a cluster of islands off the Washington coast.

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 waterline, 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. 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.

People look on after the Interstate 5 bridge collapsed over the Skagit River in Mount Vernon, Wash., Thursday, May 23, 2013.

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. 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 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.

I-5 bridge collapses in NW Wash.; people in water

 

[Political Junky]

The bridge was old and should have been fixed already- before the sequester, which merely reduces future spending by a trivial amount.

Is everything that goes wrong going to get blamed on cuts? Obama has had five years to address stuff like this, but has been too busy worrying about other issues, like abortion, birth control and granting amnesty to millions of illegals.

There haven't been any deep cuts. Obama supporters keep trying to claim that he spent less than anyone, so maybe you should direct your complaints to White House website if you really believe his spending less was the cause of this.

Old? It was built 60 years ago.

The President has been talking about infrastructure spending since he was a candidate. Who is stopping it?

Yea, 60 years is old for a bridge that has a large volume of traffic. Obama talked about infastructure as a candidate, but what has he done in the last 5 years? Look at all the stimulus money that was supposed to go for stuff like this.

He needs a congress that's not dead set on austerity, and defying Obama.

 

[Missourian]

The bridge was built in 1953 and was last inspected in June 2011. At that time, the deck condition was listed as satisfactory (6 out of 9), the superstructure conduction rating was satisfactory (6 out of 9) and the sufficiency rating was 54.9 (out of 100).

Read more: BREAKING: I-5 bridge collapses over Skagit River; vehicles, people in water | Q13 FOX News
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Uh...at it's last inspection, the bridge in question was rated as Satisfactory. ^^^


A 6 rating = Equal to present minimum criteria.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Bridge_Inventory#Structural_evaluation_scale

 

[Mertex]

Imagine how many bridges would eventually collapse, if we had the size government that Republicans insist on!

Let's see if some private company decides to rebuild the bridges for us, with their own money!



It's OK. We can't spend money, we have to save to avoid debt.. but businesses and others need lower taxes.

Eventually, all of that growth of business has a cost.. a cost on the roads and systems that are the lifeblood of our economy. And someone will have to pay the piper.

In case you wondered, several studies have been done on this, and we only have slightly over 76000+ bridges that are considered high risk.


Daily Kos: Washington State Bridge Collapses.. think Infrastructure Spending Doesn't matter?

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

Imagine how many bridges would eventually collapse, if we had the size government that Republicans insist on!

Let's see if some private company decides to rebuild the bridges for us, with their own money!

Republicans don't believe the government should build and/or maintain bridges? Can you name one who has said that?

 

[Star]

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According to the TV report I'm watching, the bridge was hit by a truck. From the look of the truck, it must have been a glancing blow -- only the side of the trailer is showing damage.

Three people have been taken to local hospitals.
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[Political Junky]

The bridge was built in 1953 and was last inspected in June 2011. At that time, the deck condition was listed as satisfactory (6 out of 9), the superstructure conduction rating was satisfactory (6 out of 9) and the sufficiency rating was 54.9 (out of 100).

Read more: BREAKING: I-5 bridge collapses over Skagit River; vehicles, people in water | Q13 FOX News
​

Uh...at it's last inspection, the bridge in question was rated as Satisfactory. ^^^


A 6 rating = Equal to present minimum criteria.

National Bridge Inventory - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The bridge is not considered structurally deficient but is listed as being "functionally obsolete" &#8212; 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.

No fatalities in I-5 bridge collapse in NW Wash. - CBS News